The photographer behind the 'distracted boyfriend' meme reveals what bothers him about it going viral.
The "distracted boyfriend" meme. Source: Insider For Antonio Guillem, the photographer of the "distracted boyfriend" meme , his models are like his kids. They have an emotional connection from years of working together and counting on each other. So if someone makes a meme that disrespects them, he gets upset. "What really worries us and we are not going to allow it ... is the use of the images in a pejorative, offensive or any way that can harm the models or me," Guillem wrote in a statement provided to INSIDER. "I'm talking, for example, about the image where their faces are changed by a dog face, a garbage bag, and a dog food bag." Guillem's photo has been online, on the stock image site Shutterstock , for more than a year. In the past couple of weeks, it's exploded across the web as a meme. The exaggerated facial expressions and soft focus makes it the prototypical stock image. And the social dynamic captured by G...