Carlsen-Verlag | Conni memes on the Internet: Victims of success

Conni has a problem: Everyone likes her. So much so that new memes are being made of her every second online, satirical versions of typical Conni book covers. Originally, she was merely the heroine of unsurprising children's books, with which German parents explain to their German children how to perceive the world and how to behave correctly in it: Bringing peace, order, and security to the nursery – that was Conni's job ever since she first appeared as the title character in the early 90s. The success of the blonde, striped-clad girl has been overwhelming ever since, with tens of millions of units sold. And the fact that this success has become a problem is, of course, the fault of this damned internet, which is corrupting our good, well-behaved children!

Conni is so successful here because her narrative concept is so antiseptically simple. In each book, she experiences completely trivial things: "Conni rides a horse," "Conni crosses the traffic light when it's green," "Conni puts her boogers in the organic waste" (titles made up for copyright reasons). This simplicity now coincides with the banality of social media consumption and the relative stupidity of artificial intelligence: Conni memes flood all channels, much to the delight of anyone who takes a quick look. There's an Instagram channel for Conni memes, and yes, of course, the Nazis, pornographers, and general idiots of this world haven't missed the opportunity to produce Conni content as well. But enough is enough! Carlsen Verlag has repeatedly rumbled about this and threatened legal action. Do you hear that, Nazis? If Conni worked, everyone will surely follow the rules from now on.