Are memes selfish? How Internet memes reflect crisis–Covid-19 pandemic in Israel

PurposeThe paper aims to explore, using an analysis of the three components of memes content, form and stance – whether and how the memes offer a broad picture of a specific society during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe author collected, from the two largest Facebook groups in Israel, 25 memes with the largest number of likes in each month, beginning from the month in which awareness of COVID-19 increased significantly, between March 2020 and February 2019. A total of 597 memes were collected. The data were analyzed by a quantitative and qualitative analysis.FindingsFindings indicate that meme culture effectively reflects a society’s situation and the challenges it faces. Memes also reflect local cultural icons and effects. Meme contents vary across groups. During a crisis, memes do not function as fertile groups for sharp criticism or calls to take action to resolve society’s social ills.Practical implicationsMemes may serve as a tool to understand and explore an unfamiliar, foreign culture, its state of mind and its history through meme culture.Social implicationsMemes may constitute a platform for relieving stress through light-hearted humor, unaccompanied by a true call to action; that is, “slacktivism” which gives a sense of active participation without involvement in actual activities for change.Originality/valueThe study reveals that the Israeli meme culture is not activist and rather focuses on humor to relieve stress. Memes may be used as “bread and circuses” or a means of “slacktivism” that fails to call to genuine activism.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2022-0381