# Safety Instruction Parodies
Safety Instruction Parodies are humorous captions and illustrations styled after airline safety cards, FEMA emergency posters, and gym workout diagrams. The format was kicked off by the Airtoons website in 1999 and later spread through Fight Club promo materials, government-safety spoofs, and Reddit image macros.
## Overview
Safety Instruction Parodies are illustrations that mimic the flat pictogram style of airline safety cards, government emergency posters, and gym instruction diagrams, paired with captions that undercut the official look with dark or absurd humor[1]. The joke depends on the mismatch between the sober, numbered-step visual grammar and the ridiculous action being described[2].
The format covers several sub-genres, including fake flight safety cards, spoofed FEMA preparedness illustrations, and mock workout posters[5]. What ties them together is the deadpan use of stick figures and arrow diagrams that look pulled from a real instruction manual[2].
## How It Spread
Fight Club, the black comedy film released October 15th, 1999, featured its protagonist swapping in parody flight cards, with Fox Movies distributing downloadable versions on the film's promotional site[3]. In February 2003, FEMA launched Ready.gov[4], and Airtoons responded by adding an "Additional Government Safety Measures" section spoofing the same source images[1].
The College Humor post "Realistic Gym Workout Diagrams" appeared September 10th, 2010, extending the format to fake exercise posters[5]. The listicle included a stick-figure image captioned "Lie Down; Try Not to Cry; Cry a Lot," which later got recycled as a reaction template beneath sad content and text posts[2].
On October 9th, 2018, Redditor SanpDraggen posted a safety-card parody on r/me_irl with a caption about airplane safety memes never taking off, hitting over 33,000 upvotes in 24 hours[3]. It was reposted to r/dankmemes shortly after, kicking off a wave of Reddit posts using the safety-card template for unrelated punchlines[2].
## How to Use
The format typically borrows the flat vector style of an official safety pictogram, a numbered step or arrow diagram, and pairs it with a caption describing an inappropriate or absurd action[2]. Common conventions include stick-figure poses, hazard-tape colors, and the deadpan tone of a real instruction card, which does most of the comedic work[5].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Safety Instruction Parodies?
Safety Instruction Parodies are captioned versions of airline safety cards, FEMA emergency posters, and workout diagrams that use the official pictogram style to sell absurd or dark punchlines[1].
### Where did Safety Instruction Parodies come from?
The format was popularized by the website Airtoons, launched February 21st, 1999, which added humorous captions to real aircraft safety card illustrations[1].
### What does Safety Instruction Parodies mean?
The term covers any parody of an official instructional diagram, whether a flight card, FEMA poster, or gym workout chart, where the caption clashes with the sober pictogram style[2].
### How do you use Safety Instruction Parodies?
People take an existing instruction-diagram image, keep the numbered steps and stick figures intact, and swap the caption for something inappropriate or nonsensical[5].
### Is Safety Instruction Parodies still popular?
The template got a Reddit revival in October 2018 when a SanpDraggen post on r/me_irl racked up over 33,000 upvotes in a day, though the format is now more of a classic than a currently trending one[3].
## References
1. [http://www.airtoons.com/]()
2. [https://cheezburger.com/3431941/14-hilariously-misguided-safety-instruction-parodies]()
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/safety-instruction-parodies]()
4. [https://www.ready.gov/]()
5. [https://www.collegehumor.com/post/6710128/realistic-gym-workout-diagrams]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/safety-instruction-parodies
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