‘Dude with a sign’ becomes the hero we never knew we needed for his hilarious one-man protests

 In a day and age of constant strife, riots and potential civil war, a hero has arisen.

Known on the streets as “Dude with Sign,” New York City resident Seth Phillips has become a star (and “hero”) for his unique protests.

Instead of protesting for the citizens of Cuba or for all lives mattering, Phillips has been protesting stuff that he finds annoying or inexplicable.

Case in point:

The Twitter account above boasts a measly 280,000 followers, a far cry from the over SEVEN million followers “Dude with Sign” has on Instagram.

The meme has attracted such a cult following that “Dude with Sign” now reportedly has a contract with the fashion retailer Zara.

“When you see the fast-fashion giant Zara proudly selling ‘Dude With Sign’ shirts for their summer collection, you know the Dude has gone mainstream,” 

“And how couldn’t he? With a whopping 7.5 million followers, New Yorker Seth Phillips has gained a cult following for his truth bombs that protest anything from loud engines, phones that shatter easily, ‘x’ in espresso, and other very specific, small things that add up to our daily lives.”

His random protesting started in October of 2019 when he and his boss, Jerry Media founder Elliot Tebele, “took to the streets of New York City’s SoHo neighborhood to hold a cardboard sign with a simple protest, ‘Stop replying-all to company-wide emails,'” as reported by Forbes in early 2020.

“The photo was originally just for Tebele’s Instagram account, but after sharing the second protest saying, ‘Seinfeld is way better than Friends’ in front of a ‘Friends’ billboard, an online following began brewing and Phillips and Tebele realized they needed to create an account specifically for these protests. Thus, the @dudewithsign Instagram account was created. Within four months, the account grew to reach more than 4 million followers.”

Phillips is now a star.

“The corner usually fills up with people within minutes, and everyone has their phones out. When I’m finished, a lot of people will ask to take pictures with me or videos, which is still something to get used to. It’s a very strange feeling, but it also kind of cracks me up that people are seeing me as a famous person for holding up cardboard signs,” he told Forbes at the time.

Believe it or not, but he does have a day job too.

“Phillips is a content creator for the board game What Do You Meme and Instagram meme account @f*ckjerry,” according to Forbes.

Both are products of Jerry Media.

“What Do You Meme?” is specifically a party card game where players are given caption cards to match up with memes. At the end of each round, a judge chooses the best match.

See the game in action below:

For the “Dude with Sign” project, the ideas are brainstormed by the whole Jerry Media team.

“When creating the protests, we try to come up with something funny that is relatable that people don’t particularly talk about. We try to have each of these elements while appealing to every type of person, which is a big part of why I think the account has accumulated as many followers as it has,” Phillips told Forbes.

Prior to linking up with Jerry Media in NYC, he “traveled throughout Australia following graduating from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas with a degree in marketing,” according to Forbes.

Now that he’s stationed in NYC, he’s loving it and the company.

“I fell in love with the company, and with New York, so I made the move. New York was a bit of a shock, but it’s such a trip and I’m having the best time,” he said.

As for the rest of the world, they’re loving HIM.

As one fan put it, he’s the “Shakespeare of the streets.”