‘THE FOUR Lads in Jeans’ who went viral after being trolled on the Internet will help other cyberbullying victims when they sell their famous meme for £1million.
It began when Jamie Philips, Connor Humpage and Alex Lacey from Coventry and Kevin Rooney from Birmingham posted on social media a picture of themselves on a night out.
The image – dubbed ‘The Four Lads in Jeans’ – led to them suffering 18 months’ worth of online abuse and trolling.
Since it went viral it has become hot property and they hope – by auctioning off the image that thrust them into the limelight as digital art and donating some of the cash to a cyber-bullying charity – to turn a highly negative experience into a positive one and raise awareness about the issue.
They said: “Our image has created some of the best but also worst moments in our lives having experienced some of the highs and lows which come with the public spotlight.
“Our ultimate goal is to support in eradicating online abuse, and we hope the sale of our image can contribute towards this.”
Today’s announcement comes after a weekend blackout across football aimed at eliminating online abuse and ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week which runs from May 10 to 16.
Since going viral, The Four Lads in Jeans have been shared by the likes of Conor McGregor, Harry Redknapp, Manchester City FC, Liam Gallagher, Piers Morgan and have appeared on national TV shows including Good Morning Britain.
The Four Lads in Jeans are determined to use their platform for good and have partnered with CyberSmile for the sale of the viral meme where they will donate a percentage of the funds to help the charity tackle online bullying and abuse.
Dan Raisbeck from The CyberSmile Foundation added: “The Four Lads in Jeans have experienced the very best and worst of the internet and social media. “It’s great to see them utilise their experience in this very unique way to fundraise in support of our work to tackle cyberbullying and online abuse. We look forward to watching the NFT auction unfold.”
Masha Vyazemskaya, head of communications at Rarible which is running the auction. said: “Memes as a phenomenon are native to the concept of NFTs, and we are happy that The Four Lads in Jeans have chosen Rarible as the marketplace to auction this piece of the internet history.
“Our marketplace boasts an authentic and highly engaged community of dedicated creators and collectors and we’re very much looking forward to the launch.”
The auction of The Four Lads in Jeans NFT starts today at 7am on rarible.com and runs until next Thursday.
Click here to follow The Four Lads in Jeans on Instagram.
