@dudewithsign is a popular Instagram account that features a tall man wearing sunglasses holding a cardboard sign in various public places. Except instead of a serious protest message, the sign has a funny aphorism about modern life, like “Who the TF writes Yelp reviews” or “You can get cold feet without telling everyone.”
The dude of the same name is Seth Phillips, an employee of Jerry Media, a social media marketing agency founded by Elliot Tebele of the popular Instagram meme account @fuckjerry.
Tebele initially came up with the idea of holding a protest sign with a funny phrase, but only made a few Instagram posts using it. Phillips later revived the idea, and it caught on: The Instagram account now has 8 million followers and runs ads for brands like Wingstop, CVS, Dunkin' and others he runs. funny signs related to a brand or product (BuzzFeed once hired Phillips to hold a custom sign at an event).
FJerry and its other subsidiaries have filed at least seven lawsuits since November 2022 against brands that allegedly used Dude With Sign's image without permission to post memes on their social media accounts.
Brands sued include technology company Avid; All Access Dietetics, a training program for dietitians; Itching, treatment of psoriasis; BruMate, a thermos flask company; RQ Insurance and Snak Club. All of these brands posted versions of the “Dude with a Sign” meme on their official Instagram accounts with the photo edited to make it appear that Phillips was holding a sign with a message about their respective brands.
