# Safety Not Guaranteed > Safety Not Guaranteed is a late-2005 YTMND meme combining a 1997 classified ad seeking a time-travel companion with a stern-faced mullet man and Scarface's "Push It To The Limit" track. "Safety Not Guaranteed" is an internet meme based on a joke classified ad seeking a time-travel companion, originally published as filler in the September/October 1997 issue of *Backwoods Home Magazine*[1]. The ad exploded online in late 2005 when it became one of YTMND's biggest fads, paired with a photo of a stern-looking man with a mullet and the *Scarface* track "Push It To The Limit"[6]. It later inspired a critically acclaimed 2012 indie film starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass[2]. ## Origin The ad was written by John Silveira, Senior Editor at *Backwoods Home Magazine*, a publication mostly known for articles about rural living, fruit canning, and self-sufficiency[3]. One night in 1997, publisher Dave Duffy asked Silveira for some filler content to pad out the classifieds page. Silveira came up with two fake ads: one was a personal ad seeking a girlfriend, and the other was the time travel ad. Both used the same P.O. Box 322 in Oakview, California, which was Silveira's actual mailing address[1]. The joke backfired spectacularly. The time travel ad drew thousands of responses from every U.S. state and every continent, including Antarctica. The personal ad got exactly five replies, four from women and one from a man[1]. Many respondents genuinely believed the ad was real. Some sent lists of weapons they could bring, others begged Silveira to travel back in time and prevent a loved one's death. Prison inmates wrote asking him to go back and talk them out of committing their crimes. A few even threatened him with bodily harm if it turned out to be a hoax[1]. The ad's text actually came from the opening lines of an unfinished novel Silveira had been working on[1]. Before hitting the internet, the ad was featured on *The Tonight Show with Jay Leno* and discussed multiple times on NPR's *Car Talk*[5]. - **Platform:** *Backwoods Home Magazine* (original ad), YTMND (viral meme spread) - **Creator:** John Silveira (ad author), axlbonbach (first YTMND site) - **Date:** 1997 (original ad), 2005 (internet meme) ## Overview The meme centers on a brief classified ad with an absurdly deadpan tone: > *WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 322, Oakview, CA 93022. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.* What makes the ad so funny is the collision of mundane classified-ad formatting with a completely insane premise. The writer treats time travel like a freelance gig, complete with payment terms and a liability disclaimer. The line "I have only done this once before" implies both that time travel is real and that it went badly enough to warrant a warning[1]. On YTMND, the ad is typically displayed alongside a photograph of a stone-faced young man sporting a mullet, though this image was not part of the original print ad[6]. The combination of the man's dead-serious expression and the ad's matter-of-fact tone about time travel created an irresistible comedic package. Paul Engemann's "Push It To The Limit" from *Scarface* plays in the background on most versions, cranking the absurdity up further[4]. ## How It Spread The meme went online on October 27, 2005, when YTMND user axlbonbach created the first "Safety Not Guaranteed" site, pairing the ad text and mullet photo with "Push It To The Limit"[4]. It racked up over 1.3 million views and kicked off one of YTMND's most prolific fads. By January 2012, there were more than 835 different Safety Not Guaranteed YTMND sites[4]. The song was included on Volume 8 of the YTMND Soundtrack[11]. The fad came in three main flavors: straightforward recreations of the original, Photoshop edits placing the mullet man into various historical time periods, and mashups with other YTMND fads[6]. Notable examples included a Sean Connery crossover, a *Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* mashup, and a version where the time traveler goes back to replace YTMND with PTKFGS, the site's well-known alternate-universe joke[4]. On February 6, 2006, YTMND user Bluedemon7 vandalized the Wikipedia article for "Safety," inserting quotes from the ad[12]. This sparked a wave of copycat vandalism by other users, forcing Wikipedia to lock the page from new editors. The incident was discussed on the article's Talk page for months[12]. The community also launched an "investigation" into the mullet man's identity. In January 2006, YTMND user vex5 claimed to have called a phone number associated with the P.O. box and received a suspicious response. When asked about time travel, the person on the other end paused, said "never call here again," and hung up[6]. Other users called and reached an answering machine asking callers to "leave a message for Mark, Debra... also, Moses or Caesar!" The community speculated wildly that Moses and Caesar were historical figures retrieved via time travel, though they turned out to be a dog and a bird[6]. On October 31, 2007, user Blackadders2 posted a YTMND featuring the ad read aloud by Don LaFontaine, the legendary movie trailer voiceover artist. The site surged back to YTMND's top 15 on September 2, 2008, following LaFontaine's death[4]. ## How to Use The original meme format is simple: pair the classified ad text (or a portion of it) with the mullet man photo. On YTMND, this was typically set to "Push It To The Limit." Common variations include: 1. **Historical placement:** Photoshop the mullet man's face into photos from different time periods (the Civil War, ancient Rome, the moon landing) to suggest he actually did travel through time[6]. 2. **Mashups:** Combine the Safety Not Guaranteed format with other memes or pop culture properties. The ad text or the mullet man's face gets dropped into other templates[4]. 3. **Quote the ad:** Use the ad text (especially "Safety not guaranteed" or "I have only done this once before") as a punchline or caption in unrelated contexts. ## Cultural Impact The meme's most significant cultural crossover is the 2012 film *Safety Not Guaranteed*, directed by Colin Trevorrow. The movie was one of the first to successfully adapt an internet meme into a feature-length narrative film[7]. *HuffPost* described it as bringing "emotion to a meme," noting how Duplass and Plaza turned 36 words from a classified ad into a full romantic story[7]. The film launched multiple careers. Trevorrow parlayed its success into directing *Jurassic World*, while Jake Johnson was already gaining traction on *New Girl*[2]. Derek Connolly went on to co-write *Jurassic World* as well[5]. Before the film, the ad had already crossed into mainstream media. It appeared on *The Tonight Show with Jay Leno*, was discussed on NPR's *Car Talk*, printed on T-shirts, and discussed on Craigslist and various online forums[1]. The ad's text even showed up in video games, including a reference in *World of Warcraft* where mousing over a dragon in the Caverns of Time warns that "Safety is Not Guaranteed"[6]. Silveira noted that the ad is "probably the only words I've written that will outlive me"[1]. ## Fun Facts - Silveira wrote both the time travel ad and a personal ad seeking a girlfriend using the same P.O. box. The personal ad got five responses total. The time travel ad got thousands[1]. - Responses came from every U.S. state and every continent, including Antarctica[1]. - The *Jerry Springer Show* invited Silveira to appear. He declined, saying he wasn't a good enough actor to pull it off[1]. - The film was shot on a $750,000 budget and grossed $4 million domestically[5]. - Director Colin Trevorrow's next film after this small indie was *Jurassic World*, which grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Safety Not Guaranteed? Safety Not Guaranteed is an internet meme based on a joke classified ad published in *Backwoods Home Magazine* in 1997, seeking a time-travel companion. It became a major YTMND fad in 2005 and later inspired a 2012 indie film[1][4]. ### Where did Safety Not Guaranteed come from? The ad was written by John Silveira as filler for the classifieds page of the September/October 1997 issue of *Backwoods Home Magazine*. It went viral online after YTMND user axlbonbach created the first Safety Not Guaranteed site on October 27, 2005[1][6]. ### What does Safety Not Guaranteed mean? The phrase is a deadpan disclaimer from a classified ad seeking a time-travel partner. The humor comes from treating an impossible premise (time travel) with the mundane seriousness of a job posting, including a warning that the trip might be dangerous[1]. ### How do you use Safety Not Guaranteed? The classic format pairs the ad text with a photo of a mullet-wearing man and "Push It To The Limit" as background music. Variations include Photoshopping the mullet man into historical photos or using "safety not guaranteed" as a caption for risky situations[6]. ### Is Safety Not Guaranteed still popular? The meme is a classic from the YTMND era. While new YTMND sites are rarely created, the phrase and the ad's legacy live on through the 2012 film, ongoing cultural references, and a 2024 musical adaptation[5]. ### Who wrote the original Safety Not Guaranteed ad? John Silveira, Senior Editor at *Backwoods Home Magazine*, wrote it as a joke to fill space in the classifieds section in 1997[1]. ### Who is the mullet man in the Safety Not Guaranteed meme? The identity of the man in the photo was a source of intense YTMND investigation. Community members traced a phone number linked to the P.O. box and identified someone named Mark, but his full identity was never conclusively established online[6]. ### How many responses did the time travel ad receive? Silveira received thousands of responses from every U.S. state and every continent, including Antarctica. Many respondents genuinely believed the ad was real[1]. ### What is the Safety Not Guaranteed movie about? The 2012 film follows three magazine employees who investigate the ad's author. Aubrey Plaza plays an intern who develops feelings for the eccentric man (Mark Duplass) behind the ad. It won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance[2][5]. ### How did Safety Not Guaranteed lead to Jurassic World? Director Colin Trevorrow's work on the low-budget indie impressed studios enough that he was hired to direct *Jurassic World* (2015), jumping from a $750,000 budget to a $150 million blockbuster[5]. ### What was the YTMND Safety Not Guaranteed investigation? YTMND users tried to identify the mullet man by calling the phone number associated with the P.O. box. They found an answering machine with names including "Mark," "Moses," and "Caesar," sparking wild theories before learning Moses and Caesar were pets[6]. ### Did the film's screenwriter know the ad was a joke? Derek Connolly initially assumed the ad was genuine when he found it in 2007, and was drawn to its emotional undertone before learning it was filler content[5][3]. ## References 1. [YTMND Soundtrack - YTMND]() 2. [Time-Travel Comedy Safety Not Guaranteed Turns Internet Meme Into Romance | WIRED]() 3. [Safety Not Guaranteed: Miami Screenwriter Derek Connolly Turned an Internet Meme Into an Indie Film Success Story]() 4. [Safety Not Guaranteed - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Safety Not Guaranteed]() 6. [Talk:Safety - Wikipedia]() 7. [SXSW 2012: 'Safety Not Guaranteed' Stars Mark Duplass And Aubrey Plaza On Bringing Emotion To A Meme | HuffPost Entertainment]() 8. [Movie Review: ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ Guarantees Big Laughs – ReviewSTL]() 9. [Nothing Is As It Memes in 'Safety Not Guaranteed' » PopMatters]() 10. [ytmnd - you're the man now dog! | search]() 11. [Safety Not Guaranteed | Rotten Tomatoes]() 12. [Safety Not Guaranteed - YTMND]() 13. [Review: Safety Not Guaranteed]() 14. [Sundance 2012: Colin Trevorrow's Awesome 'Safety Not Guaranteed' | FirstShowing.net]() 15. [The time-travel ad - Backwoods Home Magazine]() 16. [Sundance Film Festival unveils its 2012 competition lineup - Los Angeles Times]() 17. [Sundance Review: ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ A Grounded, Genuine, Oddly Effective Charmer | IndieWire]() 18. [Safety Not Guaranteed Explained]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/safety-not-guaranteed Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library