Optical illusion sparks Oklahoma Twitter feud: ‘Looks like a bearded dude’
They sure are taking the OK out of Oklahoma!
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife started getting mocked so often because its official shield looks like a bearded guy in an orange cap, that officials had to release a statement urging folks to quit ripping them for “the little dude.”
“WE ARE AWARE THE LOGO LOOKS LIKE A BEARDED DUDE IN AN ORANGE HAT —YOU DO NOT NEED TO KEEP POINTING THAT OUT EVERY SINGLE DAY,” the conservation group tweeted Wednesday with clapping emojis throughout for emphasis.
The post has been viewed 8.2 million times, and liked nearly 160,000 times as of Thursday.
The emblem features a bird flying above a deer and a fish, under an orange section that reads Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation.
But from far away, and in Twitter scale on phones, the logo looks like exactly the kind of guy you’d find in the great outdoors —sporting a scraggly beard and beanie while squinting down at, say, a fishing rod.
Observers couldn’t keep a straight face over the optical illusion-sparked online feud.
“Have you named him tho?” one user quipped on Twitter. “[He] looks like a Barnaby to me.”
Others said that they, “thought that was intentional….” and legitimately assumed “HE WAS LIKE A MASCOT OR SOMETHING.”
As an apparent tribute, some bearded men in orange hats even began posting images of themselves and pals in the comments section.
“BREAKING NEWS! Their logo looks like a bearded dude in an orange hat,” one user tweeted while another teased, “hey not sure if you’ve noticed but your logo looks like a bearded dude in an orange hat.”
Another observer added, “I could’ve sworn it’s just a crest with a deer and bird inside but…I’ll see a bearded dude from now on :D”
“This is exactly the kind of thing a bearded guy in an orange hat would tweet,” another observer wrote.
“Now I can’t unsee it,” Reddit’s official account tweeted — to which the conservation group replied “r/it’sacutallynotalittledude.”The group manages and protects fishing and wildlife along with their habitats “while also growing a community of hunters & anglers,” according to its online biography.
