Clippy

Clippy
Historical
Date Created	2000
Creator	Microsoft
Associated Program	Microsoft Windows, XP and other old computers.
General
Type	Revolution
Species	Paper clip
Gender	Male
Popularity	Popular
Status	Dead

About

Clippit, better known as Clippy, is the default animated character in the English Windows version of Microsoft Office Assistant, an interactive user's guide that came pre-installed with Microsoft Office bundles from 1997–2003. Due to its impractical and intrusive nature, Clippy quickly became a subject of mockery among Office users, inspiring a series of satirical images and parodies addressing its overall incompetence as a program.

Origin

Clippy, a paperclip with googly eyes and expressive eyebrows, was designed by Kevan J. Atteberry^[9] to serve as a user-friendly troubleshooter for people using Office applications including Word and Excel. For instance, typing an address followed by "Dear" would cause Clippy to pop up with and a variety of pre-determined messages, including "Hey! It looks like you're writing a letter!" before offering to help walk you through the process.

Clippy Cult

The Clippy PFP Movement or Change Your Profile Picture to Clippy, also known as the Clippy Cult, is an online movement started by YouTuber and consumer rights activist Louis Rossmann to stand against unethical conduct by technology companies, like personal data sales, data mining for AI training programs, unnecessary censorship and more, by changing your profile picture to an image of the infamous Microsoft Office Assistant, Clippy.

Rossmann started the movement on August 7th, 2025, with the release of the YouTube video, "Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious." The movement became significantly popularized over the following days, with many social media users changing their profile pictures to images of Clippy, as well as posting memes about the event.

Also on august 7th, 2025, YouTuber Louis Rossmann posted a video titled "Change Your Profile Picture to Clippy. I'm Serious," which garnered over 2 million views within four days. In the video, Rossmann discusses a claim that stood out to him from the Facebook whistleblower hearings: that Meta allegedly monitors when teen girls delete selfies and subsequently serves those girls beauty ads, interpreting the deletion as a sign of low self-esteem.

He draws a parallel to a case from the 1990s, specifically "United States v. Microsoft Corp" in 2001, which centered on Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. Rossmann recalls how, during that time, Microsoft would offer a "free" copy of Microsoft Office when users upgraded their old Dell computers, which came with the notorious Clippy. He states, "Unlike Facebook, which tries to profit off young girls dealing with suicidal thoughts, Clippy wanted to help." He emphasizes that Clippy never attempted to sell or share any information users provided with third parties. Rossmann asserts that if he were to boot up that old computer today, Clippy would still be there, ready to assist.

He continues to discuss how tech companies are primarily focused on collecting user data, many of which sell that data to train AI programs. Rossmann keeps promoting Clippy, stating:

"If you're tired of companies changing the terms of the sale after the sale, change your profile picture to Clippy. If you're tired of companies that have the ability to reach into your house and ransomware your products so that they stop working unless you pay them again, claiming that that's legal, but then, when somebody tries to give you back access to what you bought and pay for, that's illegal. Change your profile photo to a Clippy. If you're tired of sexbots invading the comment section on a regular basis and their comments posting with no problem, but your comments becoming censored, even when you're not saying anything that bad, change your profile picture to a Clippy. If Google being one of the premier data mining companies on Earth, not being able to tell that little cat with two pillows next to it that they try to make look like an ass so that thirsty young men click it as they normalize sex trafficking on the platform that doesn't allow you to express an opinion bothers you, change your profile picture to a Clippy and let them know that you're not happy. Clippy never tried to normalize sex trafficking. He just wanted to help."