BRICS

Submission 6,745

About

The BRICS is an acronym for five of the world's leading economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Since 2009, they have increasingly formed into a more cohesive geopolitical bloc, which leads to online reactions and memes that focus on geopolitics and economics.

Online History

The BRICS^[1] is a geopolitical bloc consisting of the countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The acronym was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill. On June 16th, 2006, in Yekaterinburg, the country's leaders first met to begin a series of high-level meetings. The BRICS has maintained an official online presence since it was first rumored by news outlets all over the globe, according to a BBC^[2] article detailing the group's potential on February 8th, 2007.

Reputation

The BRICS has been a recurring source of geopolitical jokes and memes on the internet, with most of the content highlighting the countries' allyship and unique cultural features. For example, on April 12th, 2022, iFunny^[3] user Guaranajesus shared a No Bitches meme image featuring the BRICS country flags Photoshopped over Megamind's face. The post (seen below, received 8,000 likes and 406 comments in a year.

Highlights

G7 vs. BRICS

A recurring joke on the internet compares the geopolitical bloc G7 (intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) with the BRICS to argue for which country alliance is the strongest in the world. For instance, on July 1st, 2022, iFunny^[4] user @MEMESeHUMOR posted a two guys on a bus image comparing the countries' memes (seen below, left), which received 736 likes and 3 comments in a year. Another example, posted on Twitter^[5] by @RT_com on April 10th, 2023, shows two fighters (seen below, right) representing G7 and BRICS. It received 4,000 likes and 899 retweets in a month.

QUAD vs. BRICS

BRICS has also been compared to another bloc, the QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue), a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States. On September 12th, 2021, Facebook^[6] page the7mememakers joked about India's role in both groups, receiving 315 likes and 19 shares in two years (seen below).

BRICS Currency

On April 14th, 2023, Brazil and China announced an agreement to enable direct Real-Yuan transactions, with the expectation to reduce costs by excluding the dollar in operations, in addition to promoting bilateral trade for the BRICS countries. The news erupted a series of ironic memes on social media demonstrating the strength of the developing countries in the group. For example, on April 18th, Instagram^[7] user @im_miri1996 posted (seen below, left) a fan artwork of BRICS as sexy animals, garnering 7,600 likes and 128 comments in two weeks. On April 20th, 2023, Twitter^[8] user @loopsieart posted the BRICS as the popular girls at school, receiving 69,800 likes and 10,400 retweets in a week (seen below, right).