What Does This Mean?

ステマ乙

[ SLANG ][ MULTILINGUAL NATIVE ]

FORCE: Attention EconomyUNIVERSE: Japanese Forum Culture (2channel)CLUSTER: forum_sarcastic_retorts

A sarcastic reply to a post that praises a product, work or service, implying that the praise is stealth marketing (ステマ). 乙, short for お疲れ様 ("good work"), serves as a mocking sign-off. The phrase names the retort, not the practice itself, which is ステマ.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

""What a perfect review, and it just happens to have a link." - "ステマ乙.""

LORE & ORIGIN

Combines ステマ (stealth marketing) with 乙, the 2channel shorthand for お疲れ様 that is also used sarcastically in set phrases such as 自演乙. ITmedia's January 2012 report on the 2channel dispute that began on 1 January 2012 over an Amazon affiliate link on an anime studio's site, which users took as stealth marketing, quotes "ステマ乙" as a typical reply to such accusations. That is the earliest documented use found; earlier use is not documented.

FIRST SEEN

By January 2012 (quoted in news coverage of a 2channel dispute; earlier use not documented)

PEAK ERA (EDITORIAL)

2012 onward (2channel, later social media)

CURRENT STATUS

Legacy / Decaying Slang

EQUIVALENT CONCEPTS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

Español es-ESno fixed local term →Français fr-FRno fixed local term →日本語 ja-JPステマ乙 →한국어 ko-KRno fixed local term →Português pt-BRno fixed local term →中文 zh-CNno fixed local term →

AURA IMPACT ⓘ

+1 AURA

TREND STATUS

↓ FADING

EDITORIAL ESTIMATE

CULTURE CATEGORY

[ SLANG ][ MULTILINGUAL NATIVE ]

RELATED TERMS

ステマ

MENTIONS OVER TIME

DOCUMENTED SINCE

By January 2012 (quoted in news coverage of a 2channel dispute; earlier use not documented)

NOW

Radar observation data not yet available for this term.

TOP PLATFORMS

Not enough Radar data yet to show a platform breakdown.

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