Kyle Edward Craven (born August 10, 1989), commonly known by his Internet nickname "Bad Luck Brian", is an American

Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

known for his photo which was posted on

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

in 2012, which quickly became a popular

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

. Bad Luck Brian is an

image macro An image macro is a piece of digital media featuring a picture, or artwork, with some form of text superimposed. The text frequently appears at the top and bottom of the image. Image macros were one of the most common forms of internet memes in t ...

style of meme. His captions describe a variety of unlucky, embarrassing and tragic events.

Meme

Origin

On January 23, 2012, at 2:15 UTC, Ian Davies uploaded a photo to

of his friend Kyle Craven. Craven and Davies both attended

Archbishop Hoban High School Archbishop Hoban High School is a Catholic college-preparatory school in Akron, Ohio. It is sponsored by the Catholic religious order Brothers of Holy Cross. History In the early 1950s, Archbishop Edward F. Hoban invited the Brothers of Holy Cro ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

. The photo which became Bad Luck Brian was originally taken for the high school's 2005–06 yearbook. Craven stated that he rubbed his face with a sweater to redden it and donned a goofy smile. The

school principal A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role ...

required him to retake the photo, but Craven and Davies had already scanned and saved the original picture. The photo quickly became popular on the image board

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...

, and social media networks like

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, depicting "a guy who can't catch a break ..a symbol for a stroke of hilarious bad luck".

Notable depictions

Street Art in Barcelona in April 2023 04

In 2013, Bad Luck Brian (depicted by Craven himself) featured in a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video sketch alongside fellow meme Overly Attached Girlfriend, where the two characters go on a date. This collaboration prompted Craven to create his own Bad Luck Brian YouTube channel and accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Bad Luck Brian was turned into T-shirts, stuffed animals and novelty items sold by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and

Hot Topic Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...

. He starred in ad campaigns for companies like

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

. In October 2018, Craven did a series of advertisements for

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

featuring the Bad Luck Brian character, which were featured on

, and

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. Including licensing deals and merchandise, Craven estimates he made $20,000 within three years since 2015. In March 2021, Craven sold a Bad Luck Brian

non-fungible token A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

(NFT) for around $36,000. Later in 2021, he appeared in the Slovak

viral campaign Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way th ...

for Klostermann Orthodontics. The controversial campaign promoting

clear aligners Clear aligners are orthodontic devices that are a transparent, plastic form of dental braces used to adjust teeth. Clear aligners have undergone changes, making assessment of effectiveness difficult. A 2014 systematic review concluded that publi ...

used a theme of meme copyright infringement. The revealing video of Bad Luck Brian confirming the cooperation was widely distributed on the Slovak Internet. The campaign, created by local agency Kreatívna Dvojica, was awarded in several advertising competitions. In 2023, Craven appeared in character as Bad Luck Brian for a commercial for insurance company The General alongside

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

Personal life

Redditor Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

claiming to be Bad Luck Brian attempted to do a thread in the " Ask Me Anything" (AMA) subreddit on April 11, 2012, but the thread was removed. Craven returned to a different Advice Animals subreddit on May 8, 2012, with an AMA thread. Craven is the vice president of his family's construction company and resides in Bath Township, Ohio.

References

External links

*
Bad Luck Brian Official Website
{{Authority control American Internet celebrities 1989 births People from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Internet memes introduced in 2012 Living people Kent State University alumni People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph 2000s photographs Color photographs Internet meme characters