Featured Image Credit: Instagram/dudewithsign
Topics: Social Media, Instagram, US News
Joe Yates
After more than five years in the spotlight, Dude with Sign has managed to stay relevant - and with that relevance he's revealed he's able to 'get the extra guac'.
Of course, I'm talking about Seth Phillips, the owner of the famed Instagram account, who has managed to amass 7.5 million followers on the social media platform which sees him 'protest' things that we've all been thinking.
The 30-year-old has made a living out of taking to the streets of New York City and holding up a piece of cardboard with writing on it, for example his first 'demonstration' was 'stop replying all to company wide emails'.
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It is bonkers to think that such a simple message can be so effective, maybe not in preventing people from actually replying all to company wide emails, but at least in reaching such a big audience.
Explaining how it all began, Phillips told UNILAD: "It was an office joke that was happening in the office that day. It was someone's birthday, and everyone kept 'replying all' telling them happy birthday. Then someone on our team was just like, 'oh, we should protest this, we could pop outside and protest this'."
At the time he was working for the content company F***Jerry, but after his demonstration reached millions he decided to set up his own account specifically for 'protesting' things that irritate the internet.
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But the Texan, who hails from Holly - a small unincorporated community in Houston County - would be the first to admit that his fame had snowballed, so much so that he even once had a 'surreal' moment come of his protests involving the President of the United States.
So clearly, Phillips is doing well.
When asked whether he could tell us exactly how much he earns through his social media venture, he explained that while he didn't want to disclose the actual figure, it was enough to keep him 'afloat'.
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Earlier this year, The New York Post revealed that back in October 2022, Phillips was renting an apartment in East Village, in Lower Manhattan, for a staggering $5,750 a month - despite it only having one bedroom and one bathroom.
Sharing more insight to his earnings, Phillips continued: "It helped me to, you know, quit my 'nine to five' job, you know? I'm able to work remote now.
"I'm able to get the extra guac for the $2 now, which is good. So, you know, it's kept me afloat."
But should we be surprised? The dude - with sign - has literally been invited to the White House, where former President Joe Biden greeted him back in 2021.
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Reflecting on that, he told us: "I try to just keep the page light hearted, you know. We like to just like, keep it fun, like it's a comedy page, you know?
"But we have had President Joe Biden - the Joe Biden administration reached out to hold a sign with him at the White House.
"It was about vaccines. That's probably the most political we've ever gotten. Basically just pushing people to get vaccines, and they said that he would hold a sign next to me if we would kind of push that agenda.
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"Yeah, that was a crazy moment."
He added: "It was surreal. I was looking around kind of just like, 'This sign thing has gone definitely way too far. What am I doing here?'
"Wearing a suit, talking to the president about about signs and vaccines and whatnot.
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"Yeah, it was interesting. It was crazy."
But that was four years ago; more recently he's been backing Heineken's digital detox campaign - despite his income depending on views, likes and engagement... as he puts it.
"I speak for everyone, and I definitely speak for myself too when I say that my attention span is kind of shortened," he told us.
"I'll admit I have a bit of a scrolling problem. So yeah, I support a digital detox 100 percent. I try to take them myself as much as I can, and kind of try to prevent the feeling of like, content overload.
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"This campaign was an easy yes, despite my job being dependent on social media, likes and engagement."