Many parents are divided by the comedy of a detail in a family’s holiday card that has prompted an internet debate.
When Amanda Cooper, a fashion and travel blogger with more than 14,000 Instagram followers, posted the unusual image to social media, she probably didn’t expect the negative reaction.
Cooper displayed a closeup of the family portrait in a TikTok video on December 6th, revealing a subtle trick she had planned.
She accepted the joke despite King’s commitment to designing perfect holiday cards.
“I thought it was absolutely hilarious,” she said.
The internet, however, was much harsher about the prank.
The TikTok video received hundreds of comments and over 2.4 million views in a short period of time.
Some viewers deemed the prank ‘disrespectful’ and’sad,’ with one commenter writing, “This would make me so sad.”
Some photographers also commented, complaining that removing the movements would need more editing effort.
On Instagram, others criticized the joke’s originality, with one user stating, “You came off like a bunch of jerks on the internet! Congratulations.”
Another commenter expressed personal pain, noting, “I’ve never had a family portrait taken in my life. This hurts as someone who doesn’t have a ‘family.’”
Nevertheless, Cooper’s comedy and inventiveness were commended by many fans.
One supporter commented, ‘This is so funny and justified,’ while another envisioned the tradition continuing in the future, saying, “I cannot wait for when the kids are older and get in on this tradition too!”
Her siblings posed with their kids in the picture, subtly pointing their middle fingers at the camera.
The prank was different from their yearly custom of meticulously planned family photo sessions, which are planned by their mother, Melynda King.
Cooper said she wanted to “shake things up” and surprise her mother, which is how she came up with the idea for the prank.
In an interview with Today, she described how, right before the picture was taken, she suggested the idea to her siblings in a group chat and used the word “hippopotamus” as a code to signal the prank.
“So right before the middle finger picture, I called out, ‘Everyone say, I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!’” Cooper shared.