They Still Do Not Realize...

Confirmed 143,242

About

"They Still Do Not Realize" (also known by its snowclone "Day X") is an image macro series in which a person, animal or inanimate object is portrayed as an undercover agent unsuccessfully attempting to blend in with a different group. The images are typically accompanied by a caption written in the style of a spy mission log, based on the snowclone template “Day (X): They still don’t know I’m a (Y).”

Origin

On May 29th, 2012, Redditor FTWindsor submitted an image macro featuring several World War II-era German soldiers accompanied by a man in a bear suit and the caption “Day 45: I have earned the Germans’ trust / They still do not realize I am bear” (shown below).^[1] Within the next eight months, the post received upwards of 13,300 up votes and 240 comments.

Precursor

Prior to the use of the "Day X" caption, other image macros using similar base images were created. On November 22nd, 2008, an image macro featuring a fox surrounded by several hunting dogs was submitted to the website I Can Has Cheezburger?^[7], featuring the caption "They suspect / Nothing!" (shown below, left). The You Came to the Wrong Neighborhood image macro series has comparable base images as well, featuring a homogeneous group of people or animals staring at the viewer in an intimidating manner (shown below, right). The earliest known example was submitted to FunnyJunk on June 11th, 2009.

Spread

On September 3rd, 2012, Redditor 15calderm posted an image macro of an Old English Sheepdog surrounded by sheep with the caption “Day 33 / they still suspect nothing” (shown below, left) to the /r/funny subreddit.^[4] In the following five months, the post garnered more than 14,000 up votes and 110 comments. On November 27th, 9gag^[6] user peterwee submitted a photo of a box of cookies next to several containers of Pringles potato chips (shown below, right), which gained over 19,000 up votes and 5,000 Facebook shares within three months.

On January 31st, 2013, the Internet humor blog Smosh^[2] highlighted a compilation of notable image macros from the series. On February 6th, Redditor seearc1 submitted a post titled "Day 201, they suspect nothing" to the /r/pics^[3] subreddit, featuring a photograph of a package of Coca-Cola bottles with one Pepsi bottle (shown below). Within the next 15 days, the post accumulated upwards of 4,300 up votes and 60 comments.