Seal of Approval — Smiling harbor seal with closed eyes and content facial expression

Seal of Approval

2014image macroclassic

Published September 27, 2026

On November 16, 2014, a Reddit comment on a photo of a very content-looking Weddell seal read 'that is a seal of approval,' accidentally naming an advice animal that ran on /r/AdviceAnimals through 2015 for jokes about small, private pleasures.

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Overview

The Seal of Approval, also known as Satisfied Seal, is an advice animal built around a tight portrait of a Weddell seal with half-closed eyes and a lopsided grin that reads on a phone screen as pure contentment 4. Captions land in two lines: a setup on top and the specific pleasure on the bottom, usually something petty, mildly gross, or too intimate to mention in polite company 3.

The seal's face does the heavy lifting, so a line about warming your feet over a heat vent or hitting a perfect bowel movement reads like the animal itself is co-signing the poster's guilty pleasure 2. The source photo predates the macro by seven years and originally showed nothing more dramatic than a healthy pinniped at a Dutch nature center 1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Flickr (source photo) / Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
boredengineer89; Rick van Duivenboden
Date
2014

Dutch photographer Rick van Duivenboden uploaded the source image to Flickr on August 18, 2007, having shot a Weddell seal at the Ecomare nature center on the island of Texel in the Netherlands 1. The photo sat online for more than seven years before it caught meme fire.

On November 16, 2014, Redditor Mictlantecuhtli reposted the photograph to /r/pics with the title 'This is the most satisfied seal I've ever seen,' and the top-voted comment reading 'that is a seal of approval' supplied the format's name 4.

How It Spread

The naming and the first macro landed the same day. On November 16, 2014, Redditor boredengineer89 posted the earliest known Seal of Approval macro to /r/AdviceAnimals, captioned 'Standing naked over the bathroom vent / with the heat on,' which pulled over 4,100 upvotes before archival 2. On December 11, 2014, Redditor ButterflyPaun ran the same format for a satisfying bowel movement joke that pulled more than 3,700 upvotes and over 430 comments 3.

The template kept posting through 2015 with bigger hits. On August 11, 2015, Redditor JeffKnol used the seal to praise a generous roommate, pulling upwards of 7,700 upvotes over three months 5. Two weeks later, on August 25, Redditor BigTom1776 posted a Seal of Approval about a fire marshal arresting a driver after a road-rage incident, which pulled over 7,800 upvotes and 1,600 comments in two months 6.

Timeline

2007-08-18

Rick van Duivenboden uploads the source photograph of a Weddell seal at the Ecomare nature center to Flickr [1].

2014-11-16

Redditor Mictlantecuhtli reposts the photo to /r/pics as 'the most satisfied seal I've ever seen,' where a top comment coins 'seal of approval' [4].

2014-11-16

Redditor boredengineer89 posts the earliest known macro on /r/AdviceAnimals with the bathroom-vent caption [2].

2014-12-11

Redditor ButterflyPaun's bowel-movement macro pulls more than 3,700 upvotes on /r/AdviceAnimals [3].

2015-08-11

Redditor JeffKnol's roommate-appreciation macro pulls upwards of 7,700 upvotes [5].

2015-08-25

Redditor BigTom1776's fire marshal / road rage macro pulls over 7,800 upvotes and 1,600 comments [6].

How to Use This Meme

The template typically pairs a two-line caption with the unaltered Weddell seal photo. The top line sets up a mundane or slightly taboo scenario, and the bottom line delivers the specific satisfaction, often a small physical pleasure or a workplace win the poster admits to enjoying more than they should 5.

Frequently Asked Questions