 The character has also become a trend in Egypt at Cairo 's Tahrir Square . After the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 , SpongeBob became a fashion phenomenon , appearing on various items of merchandise from hijabs to boxer shorts . The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called " SpongeBob on the Nile " . The project was founded by American students Andrew Leber and Elisabeth Jaquette and attempts to document every appearance of SpongeBob in Egypt . Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled Midan Masr . He wrote , " Why isn 't he [ SpongeBob ] at least holding a Molotov cocktail ? Or raising a fist ? " The phenomenon has even spread to Libya , where a Libyan rebel in SpongeBob dress was photographed celebrating the revolution . Although The Guardian and Vice have asserted that the trend has little to no political significance , " joke " presidential campaigns have been undertaken for SpongeBob in Egypt and Syria . 
