Zamn She's 12?
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About
Zamn She's 12? refers to a controversial YouTube thumbnail used for a February 2021 upload by The Prince Family titled "GUESS HER AGE CHALLENGE **WE FAILED**" that shows Damien Prince and his wife Biannca reacting in shock to an image of a supposedly 12-year-old girl taking a selfie in her underwear, with Damien accompanied by a speech bubble reading "zamn😍," a more intense version of "damn." The Prince Family is often criticized for clickbaiting in their thumbnails, particularly faking problems with their children and family for clicks. People began using a version of the thumbnail only showing Damien reacting to the woman as an exploitable in late 2021, photoshopping the image of the woman for comedic value. The woman in the thumbnail is not 12.
Origin
On January 30th, 2016, Tumblr[1] page mybrainsmelting posted a selfie of a woman sitting on a bed in her underwear, gaining over 100 notes in five years. Her age is not stated. On February 3rd, 2021, family vlog channel The Prince Family, who frequently come under fire for their bizarre and problematic thumbnails clickbaiting fictional issues with their children and family, posted a video to YouTube[2] titled "GUESS HER AGE CHALLENGE **WE FAILED**."
The thumbnail shows Damien on the right with his tongue out and eyes crossed as if excited, saying "zamn😍" towards the image of the woman from Tumblr, whose face has been blurred. Above the woman is the caption "she's 12?," implying she's a minor. On the right is Biannca saying "she's spicy" with a similar look of shock (shown below). The video gained over 1.7 million views in eight months.
Spread
The thumbnail garnered controversy over the course of the year as an example of YouTube clickbait, using the implication of pedophilia for clicks. On September 18th, 2021, Twitter[3] user @blkmaraj posted a cropped version of the thumbnail showing Damien's reaction to the woman, omitting Biannca, gaining over 51,000 likes and 2,900 retweets in a month (shown below, left). This image was also shared to /r/cringetopia[4] on September 28th, gaining over 9,000 upvotes in six months.
People soon began editing the image for comedic context, changing the photo of the woman for comedic effect. For example, on September 30th, Redditor speepblob posted a version to /r/skamtebord [6] replacing the woman with a Roblox Squid Game character, gaining over 260 upvotes in 12 days (shown below, left). On October 1st, Instagram[5] user @swampy.nut.sac posted a compilation of similarly bad thumbnails including the image, gaining over 23,000 likes in just under two weeks (shown below, right).
Redditor TigerMafiaFromUganda posted a version of the meme to /r/pyrocinical[7] replacing the woman with Pyrocinical in drag, gaining over 5,500 upvotes in just under two weeks (shown below, left). On October 12th, Facebook[8] page Pains of Hell Wellness Clinic posted a version of the meme, gaining over 1,900 reactions and 470 shares in a day (shown below, right).
On Ocrober 22nd, TikToker @mr.mr.purple posted a Google Books Ngram meme using the term "zamn," gaining over 520,000 views in roughly two weeks (shown below, left). On October 23rd, TikToker @real.gi.hun posted a video showing a cellphone theme based on the thumbnail, gaining a million views in just under two weeks (shown below, right).
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7021867457090473222
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7022353791181769990
The meme became widely popular in late October and early November across social media. On October 30th, YouTuber Meme Zee uploaded a video compilation version of the meme, putting clips of various characters in the spot of the woman, gaining over 68,000 views in four days (shown below).
On October 31st, Instagram[9] page pampam.mp4 posted a video edit using the meme as a template with footage of a skeleton replacing the woman, gaining over 190,000 views and 51,000 likes in three days. The video was first posted by Instagram[10] user ozyftw (shown below).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Tumblr – mybrainsmelting
[2] YouTube – guess her age challenge
[4] Reddit – cringetopia
[5] Instagram – swampy.nut.sac
[7] Reddit – pyrocinical
[8] Facebook – Pains of Hell Wellness Clinic