Grumpy Cat is a famous meme which consists in viral photos of a cat with a grumpy face, usually along with funny phrases. As many stories of viral success, Grumpy Cat began by chance. The photos haven’t been edited, and the cat does not belong to a rare breed: Tardar Sauce (Grumpy Cat’s real name) is a dwarf cat, who became famous when the brother of the owner posted a photo on Reddit, with the title “Meet Grumpy Cat” in 2012.
The more virality and fame he got, Grumpy Cat became a real star. He and his owners were invited to many interviews, appearing in Today, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, The Soup, American Idol, Anderson Live and more. He also took part in a TV spot for Honey Nut Cheerios, a breakfast cereal.
Currently, Grumpy Cat is a trademarked brand, and a million dollar business. Grumpy Cat’s manager, Ben Lashes, also represents two also famous cats who became memes: Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat. On the website grumpycats.com, the pet’s owners sell any kind of merchandising and products, including toys, t-shirts, books and, of course, DVDs of the TV movie Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever.
As you can check, Grumpy Cat’s official fan page is verified, to distinguish it from unofficial pages. At the moment of writing this article, it has more than 8 million fans, and the Twitter account @realgrumpycat has more than 300,000 followers.
An interesting fact about Grumpy Cat’s popularity is that he took part in SXSW, a music and film festival, where more than 600 fans waited for hours to take themselves pictures with the cat, overshadowing the interest for any other celebrity in the event.
Despite the grumpy expression, Grumpy Cat’s owner says that his character is very sweet, and the grumpy face only appears when he is sleepy.
Nice, I like it!