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On November 5th, 2019, Redditor jaameszxc posted a meme with the second panel altered to show both Flex Tape and Phil Swift's hand to let through water. For example, a July 21st, post by Redditor Kennythedingus received over 21,200 upvotes (shown below, right). Starting in early July 2019, the format saw an increase in popularity on Reddit. A February 21st, 2019, repost of an Apex Legends / Fortnite meme by iFunny user Freath received over 52,300 smiles in nine months (reupload shown below, left). The format saw a moderate spread online in the following months, with more examples of the meme appearing on Reddit, Imgflip and other websites. This image is the earliest known example of the format.
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Between January 7th and 27th 2019, imgflip user whosscruffylookin95 posted a two-panel format based on the GIF and referencing the post, with an additional caption added in (shown below, right). On December 10th, 2018, Redditor SwAg_LaMp posted a one-panel meme showing Phil Swift attaching Flex Tape captioned "Back of laptop: *exists* / College girls with stickers:", with the meme receiving over 25,100 upvotes in six months. On the same day, the GIF was added to GIPHY. On January 29th, 2017, an unknown Redditor posted a GIF based on the video to /r/gif subreddit, gaining over 330 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). The commercial accumulated over 17.8 million views in three years and, following a September 2017 review by YouTuber JonTron, achieved the status of a meme. In the commercial, company spokesman Phil Swift slaps a piece of Flex Tape onto a leaking water tank, stopping the leak. On January 12th, 2017, American adhesive manufacturer Swift Response uploaded a commercial for its tape product Flex Tape to YouTube.
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