(NEXSTAR) – A tiny anthropomorphized paperclip is making a comeback as people revive Clippy’s memory in protest.
Remember Clippy, a paperclip with floating eyes that served as Microsoft Office’s virtual assistant in the late ’90s and early 2000s? One of its most famous lines – which would appear in a pop-up speech bubble – was, “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?”
If you think back to your memories with Clippy, they’re probably not particularly fond ones. Most users of Microsoft’s Office suite found Clippy more annoying than helpful. One reason it drew so much ire is it would treat everyone like a beginner. It didn’t learn who you were, what your weaknesses were, and where you might have actually needed help. It would offer the same type of help again and again, even if you had written dozens of letters.
Now, Clippy’s former shortcomings are the exact reason for its resurgence.
YouTuber Louis Rossmann, whose content focuses on tech and consumer rights, posted a video in August titled “Change your profile picture to clippy. I’m serious.” In the weeks since it was posted, the video has racked up more than 4.7 million views.
Rossmann takes issue with tech companies using and selling people’s personal data, among other practices.
That’s where Clippy comes in as the unlikely hero.
“Clippy simply wanted to help. He might have been annoying but he just wanted to help,” Rossmann said in the viral video. “There were no ulterior motives. If you told Clippy that you were having a bad day, he wasn’t going to use that information to try and figure out which advertiser to sell you to, nor was he trying to steal your personal data, or try and get you to purchase other Microsoft products. He had no ulterior motives. He was simply there to help.”
In the video, he encourages people to change their profile pictures on social media platforms to the iconic little paperclip. The top comments on the YouTube video are all from users with different versions of Clippy as their icons.
“If you’re tired of companies changing the terms of the sale after the sale and getting away with it, turn your profile photo to a Clippy. If you’re tired of companies that have the ability to reach into your house and ransomware your products so they stop working unless you pay them again…change your profile photo to a Clippy,” he continued, adding on myriad complaints about forced obsolescence, bots and traffickers being able to use tech platforms to operate.
Rossman told Fast Company he hopes it’s just the beginning of a bigger pushback against invasive tech. “It’s a signal that tells others, ‘I’m not okay with this, and you’re not alone if you feel the same.’ The goal is to get people who would otherwise be apathetic thinking ‘there’s no point in pushing back because nobody cares’ to think twice about that defeatist mindset.”
