Chief Meme Officers, Doge, and Voltswagen: Who Captures and Determines Economic Value?
New organizational titles reveal communities are now dictating online economics
In 2020, Bud Light announced it was looking for a new CMO. Not a Chief Marketing Officer. Nope — a Chief Meme Officer.
Paying $5,000 a month in exchange for 10 memes a week, Bud Light’s announcement made quite the splash. Articles on the debacle saturated the internet.
But Bud Light’s little extravaganza isn’t the only of its kind. Their announcement normalized hiring meme-makers, and soon other companies began posting for similar roles. Last April, artificial intelligence startup Rosebud AI started accepting applications for Chief Meme Officer interns. Go figure.
Meme-makers aren’t restricted to young interns with minimal base pay. On the opposite end of the spectrum, software company Gitcoin is offering an annual salary of up to $120,000 for a “Meme Artist / Shitposter.” Understandably, the announcement went viral.