This seems like it could have been a great call to action to help identify others that care and organise but actually no, it's just classic slacktivism on par with Kony 2025 and BLM black squares on instagram.
You usually can't do much against anti-repair or anti-consumer stuff alone (especially in organizations), and that people often feel like they're the only ones who care in a five mile radius. The idea is that the clippy pics activate people to actually do something, because they feel like that precondition of others also caring and wanting to do something is fulfilled.
It really feels this way. Honestly, it's just obnoxious that people are willing to change their profile picture about something that they know is wrong, but they won't actually do anything about it or contribute to meaningful movements.
This symbolic act of protest and solidarity has caught your attention. I think that's as good a sign as any that it's having the intended effect!
You're partially right about the limitations, but there's deeper logic behind why this works: memetic theory. Memes (in the academic sense) as 'units of cultural meaning' spread because they fulfill cognitive needs - shared understanding, community, sense of purpose. I think there's a brilliance in that this isn't recontextualizing an existing meme, but that Clippy already represents the exact values being advocated for (helpful software with no ulterior motives). Clippy was created by the very type of corp being called out, yet represents the more genuine ideals we once all shared - ideals of the industry that has been abandoning them with extractive practices. Plus, Clippy has accumulated layers of meaning through years of use as a meme, so it comes prepackaged with recent cultural/semantic associations.
The ice bucket challenge raised millions for ALS research despite some or many people doing it for clout. Ribbons helped destigmatize amd raise awareness for aids, which bolstered funding support. Their purpose was to effect social change thru awareness and solidarity. The purpose is similar here, but faces different challenges.
There aren't many accessible ways for individuals to push back against cases of corporate overreach. Lois isn't claiming profile pictures fix everything but rather aiming to build a network of people who wish to push back on cases of corp overreach - a strategic initiative.
Discussions and debates like this, are part of how cultural change starts. Small symbolic acts that get people talking & thinking about issues they might otherwise not consider.
