Within hours of publishing, the Bernie Sanders Snapchat Lens had hundreds of thousands of downloads.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders may not have won the Democratic nomination for the 2020 election, but he did manage to win the hearts and minds of Americans during the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after photographer Branden Smialowski captured Sanders sitting cross-legged in a chair wearing a pair of unforgettable handmade gifted to him by Vermont school teacher Jen Ellis.
That image is now considered one of the most iconic photos of the Vermont Senator, and the internet, in true fashion, jumped on the opportunity, turning Bernie and his gloves into the most epic meme of 2021.
Everyone wanted an opportunity to make their own Bernie meme and thanks to Amélie Tremblay and her hilarious Snapchat AR filter Little Bernie, crafting your own Bernie Sanders meme became super easy. With a quick Snap, hundreds of thousands of people around the world filled the internet and social media feeds with their own personalized Sander memes.
If you haven’t felt the Bern with Tremblay’s filter, just open up Snapchat on your mobile device and take a photo of the Snapcode found here. This will unlock the Little Bernie AR filter for 48 hours.
VRScout reached out to Tremblay to talk about her Little Bernie AR filter. When we asked about the origin of her hilariously simple filers, Tremblay said, “I was scrolling through my feed and all I could see were memes of that one photo,” said Tremblay adding, “I normally don’t do these types of filters but I just thought it would be funny to make this one so people could use it to make more memes.”
Which they did. Little Bernie was so popular that it quickly shot into the top 10 Snapchat AR filters in the world. People everywhere had Bernie in their homes, public spaces, family photos, historical settings, and various other humorous locations.
Within an hour of publishing, Tremblay said she had hundreds of thousands of views, telling us, “It was definitely a really fun day.” As her filter shot into Snapchat’s top 10, Tremblay had people everywhere uploading their own Bernie memes and tagging her. We had our own fun with the filter not too long ago.
Tremblay, who is a full-time model living in NYC and has 34K followers on Instagram, has always been an artist, saying, “I paint, draw, sew, and I am fascinated with photos and videos. AR kind of felt like an extension of my creativity.” She’s not shy about her creative side. Tremblay created several AR filters in her spare time in between modeling jobs. You can explore her AR portfolio on her Snap profile and on her Instagram Stories page.
Even though her Little Bernie AR filter went viral, AR isn’t the direction she’s looking to go. What she’s really pursuing are art direction and video editing. “I’m working on exciting projects right now. The filter taking off helped drive traffic to my page and grow my following, which was nice,” said the up-and-coming creator.
I asked Tremblay if she’s heard from Bernie Sanders about her Snapchat filter. She told me she hasn’t, but I’m sure the Vermont Senator is loving all the memes of himself and his mittens. I mean, how could he not?
Feature Image Credit: Amélie Tremblay
