Annoy Squidward Day

Overview

Annoy Squidward Day is an annual internet holiday celebrated every February 15th in reference to the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Employee of the Month" in which SpongeBob points to a calendar and claims it's "annoy Squidward day." On the date, social media users share clips from the episode and memes, most commonly a meme showing SpongeBob pointing to the date on the calendar. There is some debate as to whether Annoy Squidward Day falls on January 15th or February 15th, although the official Nickelodeon Twitter account celebrates it in February.

Background

On February 12th, 2000, season one episode 12b of SpongeBob SquarePants, titled "Employee of the Month," aired for the first time.^[1] In the episode, SpongeBob excitedly asks Squidward if he knows what day it is. Squidward sarcastically replies, "Annoy Squidward day?" SpongeBob replies, "No, silly! That's on the 15th," and points to a calendar dated the 15th (shown below).

Celebration Date Debate

The calendar shown in the episode has only 28 days, leading many to believe that Annoy Squidward Day is in February, although there has been some debate. According to the SpongeBob Fandom^[2] page for Annoy Squidward Day, a trivia question in the video game SpongeBob Truth or Square claims the day is celebrated on January 15th. However, on February 15th, 2020, the official @Nickelodeon Twitter^[3] account shared a post celebrating Annoy Squidward Day. Generally, February 15th is the most commonly accepted day to celebrate Annoy Squidward Day.

Developments

2009 – 2012

Annoy Squidward Day has been recognized online since as early as 2009. On January 15th, 2009, DeviantArt^[4] user JediAnnSolo posted a piece of fan art, writing, "Happy Annoy Squidward Day!" garnering over 26,000 views in 14 years. In February 2012, the SpongeBob Fandom^[5] site held an "Annoy Squidward Day 2012" contest in which users voted for their favorite Squidward moment, the winning episode being "Just One Bite." On October 12th, 2012, Tumblr^[6] user jacquesthefox posted an image of SpongeBob pointing at the calendar, writing, "February 15th is Annoy Squidward Day," garnering over 352,000 notes in 11 years (shown below). Posting this image would go on to become the most prevalent online activity to recognize the date.

2012 – 2023

Annoy Squidward Day has been recognized by numerous large social media accounts throughout the 2010s. On February 15th, 2016, the uberfacts Instagram^[7] page acknowledged the date, garnering over 30,000 likes in seven years. On February 15th, 2017, the worldstar Instagram^[8] page acknowledged it, garnering over 127,000 likes in six years. The official SpongeBob SquarePants Facebook^[9] page first acknowledged the date on February 15th 2018, garnering over 9,000 shares and 31,000 likes in five years, acknowledging it again on the Spongebob Instagram^[10] page in 2019 (shown below), garnering over 71,000 likes and the @Nickelodeon Twitter page in February 2020, garnering over 19,000 likes in three years.

On February 15th, 2020, a Redditor shared a meme depicting the full Annoy Squidward Day scene from "Employee of the Month" to /r/BikiniBottomTwitter,^[13] garnering over 65,000 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). On February 15th, 2022, the SpongeBob Memes Facebook^[11] page posted a meme showing the calendar claiming that "today is the only day you can like this," garnering over 3,000 shares and 11,000 reactions in a year. The I Thought You Said Weast Facebook^[12] page shared the same meme on February 15th, 2023, garnering over 1,500 shares and 2,100 reactions in under five hours (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References