Finally, Synthetic Watermelon

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About

Finally, Synthetic Watermelon, also known as Finally, Watermelonium and Finally, X, refers to snowclone memes based on a stock photograph of a male scientist holding a test tube filled with green liquid. The meme initially spread in the early 2010s as a meme referencing the racist stereotype that African-Americans have an unusual taste for watermelon. In 2019, the format gained popularity as a snowclone, particularly in connection to Obamium memes.

Origin

Before November 30th, 2006, stock photography company Stockbyte produced a CD collection of Research and Development photos.^[1] One of the photographs featured an African-American scientist holding a test tube filled with green liquid (reupload shown below).^[2]^[3]

Prior to February 16th, 2012, an unknown user posted the photograph with the caption "Finally, synthetic watermelon," referencing the watermelon stereotype.^[4] Starting on February 16th, the image was posted on Reddit,^[5]^[6] We Know Memes,^[7] Lachschon.de^[8] and other websites (reupload shown below).

Spread

In the following years, the image was reposted on Reddit and other websites multiple times, with negligible variations of the meme also being posted. On July 23rd, 2012, following a recent repost of the original, Redditor CNuggs posted the earliest known deviating meme, with the post gaining 20 upvotes (shown below, left).^[9] On March 26th, 2014, an unknown 9GAG user posted a variation reading "Finally, concentrated watermelon," gaining over 22,100 points in five years (shown below, center).^[10] On July 3rd, 2014, an unknown Redditor reposted a version reading "Finally, Watermelonium," gaining over 640 upvotes in six months (shown below, right).^[11]

While more variations of the format were posted in the following years, it did not see significant popularity as a snowclone until 2019. Starting in April 2019, "Finally, synthetic bruh" reaction was circulated on social media (shown below, left).^[12] On July 26th, 2019, Redditor SamousGod posted a meme based on the format which received over 15,300 upvotes (shown below, right).^[13]

On August 6th, 2019, Redditor alwod posted an Obamium meme in /r/okbuddyretard subreddit, gaining over 29,900 upvotes in five months (shown below, left).^[14] In the following months, the image was reused by users on Reddit and other websites for Obamium memes (example shown below, right).^[15]

In December 2019, the format saw another surge in popularity on iFunny, Instagram and other platforms.^[16]

Finally, Upgrade

Finally, Upgrade refers a series of memes in which wizards and scientists discover upgraded versions of musical bands and cultural phenomena. Spawned by a viral meme in which a wizard discovers "Mambo No. 6," an upgraded version of "Mambo No. 5", the trend found a significant presence on Facebook in late February 2020.