Success Kid
August 26, 2007 — December 2014
"Became a stock photo; the irony was too much"
Obituary
That face. You know that face.
On August 26, 2007, photographer Laney Griner snapped a photo of her 11-month-old son Sammy at the beach. He had sand-caked fist raised, jaw set in determination, eyes squinting with an unmistakable expression of smug triumph. The shot was titled "I Hate Sandcastles," uploaded to Flickr, and promptly ignored by the internet.
Until it wasn't.
By January 2008, the image had migrated to MySpace, where users began adding captions describing minor life victories. By 2011, Success Kid had become one of the most popular Advice Animal formats on the web. The template was simple: top text describing a relatable situation, bottom text revealing a triumphant outcome. "Went to turn in assignment / Teacher forgot to collect it." "Alarm didn't go off / Still got to work on time."
Success Kid captured something essential about the human experience—our desperate need to celebrate small wins in a world that rarely throws us big ones. Sammy's face became the face of the everyman's victory lap.
By 2011, there were over 66,000 instances on QuickMeme alone. Sammy's smug little mug was everywhere: on t-shirts, in advertisements, and eventually on political campaign materials (his mom successfully sued former Rep. Steve King for that one).
In 2015, when Sammy's father needed a kidney transplant, the internet rallied. A GoFundMe campaign raised over $88,000 in a week—proof that sometimes the meme community gives back.
Success Kid faded as Advice Animals gave way to newer formats, but Sammy's triumphant expression remains immortal. For a brief, beautiful era, we all knew what success looked like.
Fist raised. Jaw set. Victorious.