A phenomenon known as the Thatcher Effect has left social media users perplexed after Adele’s hallucinogenic photo went viral.
It is almost impossible to identify inverted face characteristics in upside-down photos due to this mind-bending illusion—until the image is turned right-side up and the disturbing truth is revealed.
Professor Peter Thompson of the University of York originally reported the illusion in 1980, and it was named after the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Over time, researchers found that the effect may be applied to almost any photo, despite the initial belief that it only worked on Thatcher’s face. Adele’s face is now the most recent instance of this optical trickery to become viral.
Although Adele’s face is upside down in the aforementioned photo, there’s something strange about it that’s difficult to identify.
That is the Thatcher Effect’s genius. When the image is reversed, her mouth and eyes appear to be in the normal position. But when the image is turned upside down, the unsettling distortion is clearly visible. The internet went into a collective panic.
The Thatcher Effect has been widely shared before. Dr. Julie Smith, a clinical psychologist, stunned her TikTok followers by using Kanye West and Barack Obama’s faces to illustrate the illusion.
Fans described the phenomenon as both fascinating and disturbing, and the video, which asked viewers to flip their phones to display the strange shifts, received millions of views and over 68,000 comments.
In Adele’s case, fans couldn’t get enough of the illusion. Posts on X exploded with comments like, “This broke my brain” and “Adele, but make it nightmare fuel.”
