Sad Ant With Bindle / Homeless Ant / How It Feels To Ant

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About

Sad Ant With Bindle, also known as Sad Ant With Bag, Homeless Ant or How It Feels To Ant, is an exploitable meme and reaction image that shows a sad-looking ant holding a stick with a bag tied to the end of it (sometimes called a bindle or knapsack), and is used to represent the idea of "sending someone packing." The image originates from a drawing for a pest control agency, and was first widely used on Tumblr. In early 2023, the meme trended on Twitter and Instagram, most often paired with a recaptioned text caption following the phrasal template, "How it feels X," with the "X" being substituted for a subjectively demoralizing action such as texting first or leaving the party first, among other examples.

Origin

The image of a sad ant holding a bindle stems from a website for a Virginia-based pest control company named Zap Pest Control. The original file was named "sad bug with napsack," and contained additional imagery of the house the bug had to evacuate.^[1]

The earliest known use of the image as a meme was likely a now-deleted Twitter post by user @roxylalondeswag where they wrote, "Homophobes reading "homophobes dni" at the end of your seizure inducing danganropa filled carrd." The post was reposted to Tumblr on April 12th, 2021 by user beachnet,^[2] gathering over 14,000 notes in nearly two years (seen below).

Spread

On June 20th, 2021, Tumblr^[3] user @tonysopranobignaturals posted a meme using the sad ant meme, gathering over 13,000 notes in over a year (seen below).

On November 28th, 2021, Tumblr user zampl made a post that read, "seen a person’s blog that had 'p--n bot' under the do not follow if criteria………king they can’t read💔," adding a photo of a sad looking ant holding a stick with a bag tied to the end. Tumblr user muck-raker added a comment to the thread giving a description of the image, saying, "[ID: a sad ant with a bindle, presumably originally from an ad for pest control]. User zampl subsequently dubbed the event as "sad ant with a bindle Monday."^[4] The post gathered over 90,000 notes in over a year (seen below, left). On December 21st, 2021, Tumblr^[5] user telltaletypist posted the meme in a thread that gathered over 40,000 notes (seen below, right).

"How It Feels" Ant

On March 23rd, 2023, Instagram^[6] user @girlfromwebsite uploaded a carousel post that started with a Sad Ant with Bindle meme, pairing the image with, "this is how i feel when i ask my dad for money." The post gained roughly 12,900 likes in two months (shown below, left). A few weeks later, on April 22nd, 2023, Instagram^[7] user @girlfromwebsite posted another meme with the same template, instead reading, "how it feels asking someone to hang out first." The post gained roughly 30,100 likes in 17 days (shown below, right).

The user @girlfromwebsite's second meme gained multiple, viral reposts on Instagram^[8] in late April 2023, ultimately leading to other meme creators recaptioning it, keeping the first part of the caption reading, "how it feels…" For instance, on April 27th, 2023, Instagram^[9] user @iamdelusional_ posted a version reading, "how it feels walking to the car when you're getting picked up," gaining roughly 63,400 likes in 12 days (shown below).

Viral iterations of the template spread to Twitter^[10] and remained on Instagram^[11] going into May 2023.

Happy Ant

In June 2023, an altered version of the Sad Ant image started circulating online that made him look happy, giving him a smile and putting his arms in front of him (shown below, left). The image's first-known upload was tweeted by Twitter^[12] user @Henryispathetic on June 16th, 2023, who compared the photo to the similarly altered version of the No Arms No Legs Girl In Hospital, earning roughly 8,700 likes in 15 days (shown below, right).

Going into June 2023, the Happy Ant image was used by English-speaking meme creators on Twitter. For instance, on June 19th, 2023, Twitter^[13] user @10bands100bands tweeted, "He's so f**king back," gaining roughly 23,900 likes in 12 days (shown below, left). Also on June 19th, Twitter^[14] user @northstardoll tweeted a Happy Ant meme with text reading, "me when I choose myself," gaining roughly 82,700 likes in 12 days (shown below, right).

The image gained further viral usage on Twitter^[15] in June 2023, spreading elsewhere such as on Instagram.^[16]

Happy Ant to Sad Ant GIF

Soon after the Happy Ant image was created in June 2023, a GIF started to circulate that transitioned from the Happy Ant to the Sad Ant (shown below, left), similar to the then-recent Smiling Buck Tooth Emoji GIF. The first-known internet user to post the GIF was Twitter^[17] user @northstardoll on June 20th, 2023, who captioned it, "realizing no one would talk to me if I stopped texting ppl first," gaining roughly 65,900 likes in 11 days (shown below, right).

Viral usage of the GIF persisted on Twitter^[18] going into late June 2023.