28-year-old Buzzfeed writer Norberto Briceño is a self-described “pessimist with the self-esteem of a pimply-faced 16-year-old adolescent.” Briceño has admittedly suffered from low self-esteem from a young age, but he decided recently to tackle his issues with a little Instagram experiment. Pegging Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo as the antithesis of himself, the Mexican writer thought it would be funny and informative to recreate five of Ronaldo’s famous Instagram thirst traps.
This exercise saw him posing shirtless while lathered in baby oil, relatively naked, and laying elegantly in the grass next to some bushes, all in the style of the Portuguese megastar. The results were…well, see for yourself.
This photo spree saw the 28-year-old experimentalist lose 19 Instagram followers in 5 days, but he also got some positive attention for the stunt. Brocieño was greeted with comments like “Daaaaaang, ’bout to change into a romper?”, “Omg what’s happening” and “WERK ?? WERK ?? WERK ??”, as his timeline tried to figure out what exactly has gotten into their normally reserved friend Norberto.
What started as a joke actually led so some self-discovery for the writer. “At the end of the day, I have to be me. I don’t take selfies, I don’t take shirtless pics, and I’m not great at thirst traps like Ronaldo,” Briceño said. “Do I need to work on my negativity and low self-esteem? Yes. But I’m a fat dude with lots of imperfections, and that’s cool. Fat is a beautiful thing. And it doesn’t matter what you look like as long as you’re true to yourself.”
Since publishing his article on Buzzfeed, Briceño has received plenty of support, and even some girls in his comments trying to get to know him; who knows what his DMs look like right now? Maybe he’ll find love through his self-deprecation and bravery. Either way, the photo collection should give Briceño some confidence in his humor, and isn’t that a good thing on its own?
You can see the rest of the photo series over on Buzzfeed.
