What Are Those Meme: Origins, Viral Rise, and How It Became a Roasting Classic

What Are Those Meme is one of the funniest and best callouts to ever put itself on a screen. Picture it now, you are casually strolling down the street, minding your business and then someone yells at your shoes and screams, “WHAT ARE THOSE?!” You look down and WHAM, you are in meme history. The phrase is more than a roast, it’s a cultural artifact. Part call-out, part comedy, it ignited the Internet in 2015 to become one of the greatest punchlines of all time.

Its mix of absurdity, relatability and millennial Gen Z humor is single-handedly responsible for its viral rise. But where did it originate? And why shoes? And how did it go from a video to a global punchline? Let’s lace up and take a walk through its story.

#1 What Does the “What Are Those” Meme Mean?

The meme is built on one very specific question: “What are those?” Delivered with exaggerated theatricality, it’s usually directed at someone’s footwear—and not in a good way. Whether it’s off-brand sneakers, dusty boots, or orthopedic sandals, the phrase is meant to mock, clown, or roast.

But there’s nuance. The tone can shift from lighthearted teasing among friends to sharp public ridicule. At its best, it’s comedy gold—a playful nudge at questionable taste. At its worst, it risks embarrassing someone on a viral scale. The phrase taps into fashion snobbery and the visual importance we place on shoes as a style statement.

#2 What The Origin of “What Are Those”?

Brandon Moore, widely known online as Young Busco created the meme’s iconic modern manifestation. On June 14, 2015, he uploaded a few seconds of video to Instagram: he points at a police officer’s standard-issue black boots and shouts “WHAT ARE THOSE?!”. The timing, surprise, and delivery made it immediately iconic.

The video was quickly uploaded to Vine, where it quickly garnered over 20 million loops in a few weeks. That six-second roast turned into a digital wildfire. Interestingly enough, the phrase possibly has a predecessor—in Disney’s animated film “Hercules” (1997), Hades yells a similar line at a henchman’s ridiculous sandals.

The success of the meme also depended partially on how spontaneous and raw it felt. Young Busco was not following a trend; he was creating one.

#3 How Did the What Are Those Meme Explode and Evolve Online?

The format morphed once it hit Vine. Out of nowhere, everyone was pointing at bad shoes with fake disgust while delivering the line. Then it spread like wildfire to YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, which started a new wave of remix culture.

There were church skits, in which someone would get up in the middle of a sermon to scream it out loud. There were gaming edits where people made characters in Fortnite or GTA pause to roast a pair of boots. There was even a pet version, where they lightly razzed dogs in their winter booties.

Celebrities could not help themselves. Lebron James used it in a viral video. Even Marvel’s “Black Panther” had a scene where Shuri jokingly hit her brother, T’challa, with the meme. It was a legit cultural ​​relevance stamp.

#4 Why What Are Those Meme Became a Meme Staple

There are three primary reasons: speed, comedy, and versatility. The short-form structure worked across the shortest video services and sites, like Vine and TikTok. The molds were simple often simple. But they provided infinite creativity. The humor – highlighting someone on their unfashionable shoes – was neither ambiguous nor complex.

It tapped into deeper currents of sneaker culture, with shoes serving not only as accessories but indicators of higher social status. To mock someone for their footwear elicited, in some ways, social currency, particularly in school hallways, group chats, and meme threads.

Moreover, the meme operated at a time when online roasting was still evolving. “What Are Those” presented an initial model for quick videos used not only to produce humor but with a hint of cruelty.

#5 What Are the Funniest What Are Those Meme Variations?

• In the “Black Panther” film, Shuri breaks royal etiquette to call out the T’Challa sandals—a reference that delighted social media-savvy fans.
• On TikTok, creators utilized the line to roast dad shoes, Crocs, or anything that bordered on unfashionable.
• Pet accounts joined in. Dogs in baby sneakers, cats in mismatched socks… meme-able.
• Gamers remixed the audio into cutscenes from anime, Minecraft or Among Us, often with crafty zooming-in and bass-boosts.

Each remix had its spin, but the the core comedic performance—calling out the bad shoes—was still the same.

#6 Why Did “What Are Those?” Face Criticism and Meme Fatigue?

As with every viral hit, “What Are Those” eventually faded into redundancy. Brands attempted to capitalize on it. School kids overused it. And at times, playful ribbing became outright humiliation.

There were also some discussions about power dynamics. Is it acceptable to surprise random strangers with public ridicule, even in fun? And what happens when something originally meant to be humorous becomes a mechanism to insult and ridicule others?
Moore, the creator of the meme, expressed both pride and burden in his viral fame.

Unfortunately, he passed away in 2018. After his death, many appeared to be reflective, grateful, and were memorializing his life online.

#7 Conclusion

“What Are Those Meme” went from a street-side roast to a pop culture punchline over the years, but what started as a simple question turned into a universal burn. It encapsulated a moment in internet history where humor, fashion, and astute video-editing combined as one.

But more than that, it offered the world a way to collectively laugh—one creative eye-roll at a time—for the absurd, the unfashionable, or simply the bizarre. And, thanks to Young Busco, a simple question evolved into one of the most enduring jokes on the internet.

So the next time somebody steps out in some ridiculous pair of shoes, you’ll know exactly what to say—just make sure they’re in on it!