Devious lick meme
✕ Risky for brands. The meme is about theft and vandalism, which are illegal and negative behaviors, making it inappropriate for businesses.
What does the Devious lick meme mean?
The 'devious lick' meme involves posting videos of stolen or vandalized items, often from schools, as a trend of displaying illicit gains.
Where did Devious lick come from?
The devious lick (also known as a diabolical lick, dastardly lick, or nefarious lick, among other names) was a social media trend in which middle- and high-school students posted videos of themselves stealing, vandalizing, or displaying items they stole from their school, typically from a bathroom (or, in some cases, merely pretending to have done so). The trend went viral on TikTok in 2021 and resulted in the arrests of several students, as well as warnings issued by police departments.
Is the Devious lick meme dead?
Less than it was. Devious lick is fading: its rate of reads of its Wikipedia article has slowed by more than 15% compared with the period before. Its current rate is 2% of its peak, which came in the period ending Dec 1, 2021.
The Wikipedia article on Devious lick was read 115 times in November 2026, and 357,238 times since July 2015. Its busiest measured month ended Dec 1, 2021 at 782 reads per day.
Stats
| Busiest month | November 2021 (23,459 reads) |
| Reads, last 12 months | 32,584 |
| Reads, 12 months before | 51,126 |
| Change year on year | -36% |
| All-time reads since July 2015 | 357,238 |
| Current rate vs peak | 2% of the peak in the period ending Dec 1, 2021 |
Devious lick captions for businesses
| real estate | My competitor's 'for sale' sign / My 'devious lick' |
| dentists | My patient's plaque / My 'devious lick' |
| restaurants | My customer's last fry / My 'devious lick' |
| fitness studios | My client's last rep / My 'devious lick' |
| software startups | My competitor's source code / My 'devious lick' |
| coffee shops | My customer's last sip / My 'devious lick' |
| hair salons | My client's split ends / My 'devious lick' |
| accountants | My client's tax deductions / My 'devious lick' |
More questions
Can a business post the Devious lick meme?
Be careful. The meme is about theft and vandalism, which are illegal and negative behaviors, making it inappropriate for businesses. memeidea's brand-safety calls are AI-assisted suggestions, so check how the format is being used this week before posting.
What is a good Devious lick caption for a business?
For real estate: “My competitor's 'for sale' sign / My 'devious lick'”. For dentists: “My patient's plaque / My 'devious lick'”. For restaurants: “My customer's last fry / My 'devious lick'”. More captions are in the table above.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Devious lick: article and page-view counts (Wikimedia API)
- Know Your Meme: origin and spread
- memeidea method: how stages and momentum are measured
