Bonjour

Origin

The Bonjour Bear meme uses a character that debuted in a 2009 animated short called "A Bear's Story." This bear character is drawn in a simple, appealing style and is shown greeting people with a friendly "Bonjour!" The meme took off in early 2020 across social media, especially Twitter and Instagram. Users started taking the bear image and adding their own text, typically creating humor by placing darkly comic or sarcastic captions alongside the bear's wholesome appearance. The meme became popular because it works in so many different contexts. The combination of the bear's warm, inviting expression with contradictory or bleak text creates an effective joke. The format proved flexible enough that it spawned many variations and became associated with a particular type of internet comedy that uses innocent imagery to deliver cynical or complex messages.