Neglected Pou / Abused Pou

Submission 19,744

Part of a series on Image Macros. [View Related Entries]

About

Neglected Pou, also known as Abused Pou, Sick Pou or Dirty Pou, refers to multiple image macros of the character Pou (from the mobile game Pou) looking sick and disheveled due to neglect from the owner/player. Images of abused Pous surfaced on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram and TikTok in 2022 and 2023, often paired with captions about addiction or ones that subverted the serious stare of the cute yet sick Pou with a thermostat in its mouth. The Pous are also seen with poop icons around them.

Origin

The mobile app game Pou is a virtual pet game that was released in August 2012.^[1] Going into 2013, multiple images of neglected Pous appeared online uploaded by users who didn't feed or clean their Pou, which resulted in the accumulation of poop and dirt on and around their Pou pet. For instance, on March 25th, 2013, the Facebook^[2] page La Fábrica de Dibujos posted a screenshot of a neglected Pou with multiple poop icons, a thermostat and mold formations (shown below, left). On October 23rd, 2013, Twitter^[3] user rizkyratna_s uploaded a neglected Pou with similar features (shown below, right).

Despite early examples of abused Pou images being shared online, the first known meme made with an abused Pou image was uploaded years later on April 16th, 2021, by Instagram^[4] user bigshittemdotcom, who added Impact captions reading, "Hey / Hey Shawty." The post received roughly 47,600 likes in two years (shown below).

Spread

Going into 2022, abused Pou memes gained more virality, predominantly starting on October 23rd, 2022, when Twitter^[5] user lynx_desmond tweeted, "when i was a child i would install Pou on my phone just to intentionally neglect it and come back to it looking like this and laugh my ass off," and earned roughly 272,400 likes in four months (shown below, left). In the replies to the tweet, multiple users added their own memes, like Twitter^[6] user HeylmKoda on October 24th, who edited the Pou to make it look like a cowboy. The reply received roughly 2,800 likes in four months (shown below, right).

On January 10th, 2023, Tumblr^[7] user vhamperson posted an abused Pou image showing a Pou made to look like the character Pladdie from My Singing Monsters. The post received over 130 notes in one month (shown below, left). Weeks later, on January 30th, Twitter^[8] user GRlFFS tweeted the image, captioning it, "how much pou neglect do you even have to do to make it look like this," and earning roughly 32,300 likes in one week (shown below, right).

On January 29th, 2023, Twitter^[9] user porgiexd tweeted, "PLEASEE SEND ME ABUSED POU IMAGES I NEED MORE," earning roughly 61,600 likes in eight days (shown below). The tweet also received over 400 replies, resulting in a viral thread of abused Pou imagery and memes.