Meme Celebrities
Success Kid: the beach photo that paid for a kidney
Laney Griner photographed her baby son on a beach with a fistful of sand. His triumphant face became the internet's symbol of small wins - and later helped save his father's life.
In 2007 Laney Griner took her son Sammy, not yet a year old, to the beach. He had just grabbed a fistful of sand, and she caught the moment he clenched it with a look of pure determination. On 31 August 2007 she uploaded the photo to Flickr, captioned “Why I oughta…”.
From sandcastles to success
The first popular caption, in 2011, was “I hate sandcastles”, as if he had just smashed one. But people soon read his face differently: not anger, triumph. Success Kid became the meme for life's tiny victories - the bus arriving as you reach the stop, finding money in an old coat.
Success Kid: You reach the bus stop just as the bus pulls in.
The picture went on to sell everything from soft drinks to phone contracts, and the White House even tweeted it in 2013.
A real success
In 2015 Sammy's father, Justin, needed a kidney transplant the family couldn't afford. They started a fundraiser with a goal of $75,000, and when the internet realised it was Success Kid's dad, donations poured in and passed the goal within days. Justin got his transplant that summer. Laney has protected the picture carefully ever since, and in 2020 objected when a politician used it in a fundraising campaign without permission.
Watch them tell it
I Accidentally Became A Meme: Success Kid (BuzzFeedVideo, YouTube)
‘Success Kid’ Saving Lives 7 Years Later (NBC News, YouTube)
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