WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF PINEAPPLE QUOTE: “BE A PINEAPPLE: STAND TALL, WEAR A CROWN, AND BE SWEET ON THE INSIDE.”
Who said, “Be a pineapple: Stand Tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside”? No one is providing an author for the popular pineapple quote. When I searched for who said this viral pineapple saying, there was nothing! There were many Google results because many people were loving what I call the “Be a pineapple” quote but, again, none referenced the source. So, who’s the source?! Well, I had to do a bunch of digging.
Be a pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside.
Who said, “Be a pineapple: Stand Tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside”? No one is providing an author for the popular pineapple quote. When I searched for who said this viral pineapple saying, there was nothing! There were many Google results because many people were loving what I call the “Be a pineapple” quote but, again, none referenced the source. What the pineapple, who’s the source?! Well, I had to do a bunch of digging.
This is a quote you’ve probably seen all over the internet. It is said and posted everywhere and it feels like everyone thinks this is a saying since the dawn of time because there is never any mention of the author of such pineapple quote.
Don’t believe me? Spend a few nights of no sleep researching the web, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, Goodreads, and Amazon.
Even on those wild quote database websites, this pineapple quote was nowhere to be found.
That was until I found it and some other awesome pineapple stuff in the process.
BE A PINEAPPLE
Now, let’s establish that I am referring to the full slogan and not the short “Be a pineapple” phrase that everyone likes to say as well. Be a pineapple is up in the air and I saw many people say it long before the full quote in question was unleashed into the world.
As I searched high and low for the author of this infamous pineapple quote, I found some other great pineapple quotes. One of them even connects the pineapple and photography.
Mr. Dith’s theory of photojournalism: “You have to be a pineapple. You have to have a hundred eyes.”
Cool quote referencing us to ‘be a pineapple,’ but we still had no idea where the advice to “stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside” came from.
REAL AUTHOR OF BE A PINEAPPLE QUOTE?
One day, I was checking my Instagram feed and watching some stories. One story came up from Kat Gaskin and she was a little salty (which is maybe why she’s the @KatGaskin) with respect to the quote I’m trying to uncover. Kat was very frustrated because she is the person that originally came up with “Be a Pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside,” and no one is giving her credit. Worst, people were making money off of her quote.
I kept out of this conversation that carried over into her Instagram posts. I had no Idea if her claim was true or not. The quote seemed too popular to have only been around for a couple years or less.
It’s deeply frustrating when you find people making money off your IP or creative.
Trust me, I know the feeling deeply because I give away my pineapple images and people take them to sell products without creatively advancing them in any way. People simply upload my images, hopefully at least upscaling them properly for quality, and pictures are found in search on the sites better than me. Many of my photos have this pineapple quote we’re discussing too!
Are they making money from the images or quote? I don’t know for sure, but they continue to upload and receive many comments too. It is the same deal with Kat’s quote. I’m very confident that people are highly benefiting from the pineapple saying.
YOU HAVE TO STAND TALL AND ADJUST YOUR CROWN
The difference is, I don’t really know much about the sale of products with quotes on them. We’re also talking about a quote that was very hard to figure out the author. We know people are so lazy and they see everyone using the quote too. My photos are for personal and commercial use (without credit required) and people are okay to do what they are doing on Society6 and Redbubble. I used to get pretty negative when seeing people do nothing creative with my images of this tropical fruit and sell them, but a change in mindset has made find the positive.
THE OFFICIAL BE A PINEAPPLE QUOTE POST ON INSTAGRAM
Before I could even find the post where Kat dropped this infamous and positive pineapple quote, remember, I tried searching Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. My searching on Facebook came up empty and I found that super weird due to how often the quote is used on other platforms.
I thought that Kat said her post was in 2015 and I got suspicious when I found a few people share “Be a Pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside,” on Twitter back in 2014. For example, it seemed like this exact wording came up for me around June 2014 on Twitter (without any author credit). Here is what I found:
I wanted to find a way to contact this girl and ask her if she came up with the quote on her own. I was searching all over trying to honestly figure out the passage author. Being on all kinds of websites dedicated to sweet quotes and coming up empty was so weird to me. I wanted to be pretty confident on the author because I thought Kat deserves the credit or someone else does.
THE OFFICIAL QUOTE POST ON INSTAGRAM
Eventually, I found the post by Kat aka Salty Pineapple after so much scrolling. And instantly I believed she’s deserves credit as the source of Be a pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside.
All of Kat’s posts around this time were alike. They all used this same typography over top of images. But the kicker was seeing the phrase started being used on Twitter just days later (with the same image) and then more and more. Had it been earlier, we’d have seen it spread.
THERE IS A POST I FOUND VERY SIMILAR THOUGH
On Twitter, I discovered a tweet by Alexandria Whitaker in January of 2014 that was semi-similar:
As you can see it plays around with the words a bit, but overall it’s just not as catchy. Plus, I’ve heard Kat explain the quote a bit via Q&A’s.
I struggled to find much before this timeframe that related to the full phrase. If it had been referenced in a book, I was sure to have found it on Good Reads.
Nope.
GIVE CREDIT OR CONTACT KAT FOR USE OF THE PINEAPPLE QUOTE
I don’t know if Kat has gotten the phrase trademarked or copy written. At this point, I don’t know how that works and wonder if someone else could be ridiculous and do it. I sure hope not. The fact that she’s the original author of the quote should override that, I hope (if it was the case).
I believe if you want to spread this impactful quote, give credit.
If you want to go and sell art or other products, contact Kat and see about purchasing a proper license – which would be required if she’s done some legal work with it. Sadly, I know many people and companies will change a word to get away with saying the same kind of phrase still.
If still frustrated Kat, just think of all the good and happiness that’s been spread from the quote even if you weren’t given due credit or monetary gain. With my photography, I am constantly amazed at the amazing things that still happen when you don’t care who gets the credit.
We’re in an age of abundance and you’ll get all the good vibes you deserve!
QUICK UPDATE A YEAR LATER
Just recently, a year later from when this post was written, Kat has let the phrase be free. I hope my advice sunk in. Well, I wish the decision to let the quote free happened last year. Oh well, she’s getting so much more credit and this post has sent so many people over to her Instagram account.
MY RESEARCH WAS LONG BUT REWARDING
Just to finish up, my research for this post was long but rewarding. As I went along, I discovered so many interesting pineapple related content to share with you all. I hope you come back or, even better, subscribe to our emails so we can keep in touch. … PS If you like the pineapple shirt that you see in the featured image, it’s available here. Translating it into English, it says “I am a pineapple.”