In July 2019, Kevin Rooney, Alex Lacey, Jamie Phillips and Connor Humpage went on a boys night out to a in Birmingham.
When they got off the train they asked someone to take a photo, and pretty happy with how they looked they all shared it on Instagram and carried on with their night.
They didn't really think any more about the photo, until it appeared on a meme account a few weeks later - which was the beginning of 18 months of vile trolling.
Dubbed Four Lads in Jeans, the picture went viral and the friends - aged between 26 and 30 - were subjected to sickening abuse and messages telling them to kill themselves.
But, a new meme of the photo, which was edited to look like the were singing the famous TikTok Sea Shanty, brought them back into the limelight for much better reasons.
In the past two weeks the tide has completely turned and their lives have completely changed - and they now have an agent and brand offers from several big names including McDonald's.
They've even had apology messages from people who previously trolled them.
Jamie tells The Mirror: "We're just normal lads. We can take a joke but when it starts getting personal. The comments were just endless. There were thousands of just abuse.
"People must have been so angry when they were typing these things.
"We've had this for a year and a half and it hasn't been nice. You try to laugh it off but it's draining.
"But we're now getting a lot of positivity from it. People have done a U-turn and are giving us a lot of love."
After the initial flurry of vile messages back in 2019, things got worse when someone found Alex's work mobile number and posted it online, so he was inundated with prank calls and voice messages.
Trolls also found his mum's social media account and started commenting on her photos.
Kevin explains: "Some of the comments were brutal. I had people telling me to go and kill myself and to hang myself.
"Is it really that deep and that serious how four people are dressed?"
Kevin says he didn't read most of the comments and never replies, but is concerned that people without such a thick skin could have been extremely troubled by the comments.
He said: "If someone really took it to heart it would be really bad."
Connor adds: "We were a bit of a mystery but we've got a platform now. People are less likely to give us abuse.
"There are some horrible people out there.
"We were stuck because we were in a place where we couldn't do anything about it. We couldn't go to the police but deep down it was affecting us."
The lads now want to work towards making laws surrounding trolling in the UK harsher, as they are elsewhere in the world.
And they are trying to use their new platform to raise awareness of mental health and cyber bullying.
Kevin said: "We've had some massive brands approach us. We've had a lot of things on the table. It's huge, we really enjoy the work we've been doing.
"We're at a point when we're turning offers down, which is crazy."
But the guys are extremely excited about their biggest deal to date, promoting McDonald's Click & Serve - which they are very keen as they're all big fans of the fast food giant.
The service allows customers to enjoy their favourite treats in a Covid-safe way - and means they don't have to wait inside.
Kevin voices a video which shows him ordering McDonald's on the app - but getting interrupted by messages and a phone call from his mum.
Kevin said: "When the opportunity came around to work with McDonald’s the lads were buzzing. I mean, it’s McDonald’s. It doesn’t get much bigger than that! And to be a new face, or voice, of the brand is such a privilege.
"We might be famous now but getting your McDonald’s easily and safely is still a top priority. We were chuffed when McDonald’s asked us to help promote and educate people about how to use Click & Serve."
- To try Click & Serve out for yourself, simply place your order via the My McDonald’s App, drive to your local restaurant and park in the designated Click & Serve parking bays. You can download the app at spr.ly/MyMcDonaldsApp
