Have you come across a blue bird on Faceook thrashing its head as if gone crazy? It is called "Trash Dove". Within just few days of the release of head-bobbing bird stickers on Facebook, it has become one of most popular stickers to spam. Comment sections are flooded with these irritating stickers. Netizens are using it to spam their friends as well as enemies. Internet is full of memes over this crazy bird. So, where did it come from? And how did it got this much fame?
Syd Weiler- a Florida based animator and illustrator drew the bird in September 2016. Later, she created stickers for Facebook in January 2017, which was made available for Facebook on 1st February, 2017. It included a set of 24 stickers among which the head-banging dove became most popular. Initially, it was rolled out for Asia pacific only. With launching, its popularity spread like a wildfire. Before going global, it went viral in Thailand when a Thai page posted a video showing Trash Dove and Mim & Yam Cat dancing together which got more than 4 million views within a mere week. Consequently, the sticker got viral all over Asia. Eventually, not all the netizens are liking it. A petition is going on to ban these irritating stickers.
On 10th February, Syd Weiler posted a video thanking Thai fans. She also talked about releasing the sticker on Line shortly. Sources expect two more sticker packs from Weiler- Raccoons and Sushi. On asking why the trash dove is bobbing its head, whether it is a metal fan or emotionally disturbed, she replied, "It is open to your interpretation. It may be both or may be it is happy and excited. It is about how you perceive it."
In a Facebook post, Weiler revealed how she got the idea and how did the actual bird look like. She wrote, "Here are what the Doves originally looked like- I sketched these after sitting by a pond with some feather friends. They are quite different but still silly, I hope you like them."
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| This is how the original doves looked like |