Proof that having one of the most searched names online won’t necessarily work wonders for your public profile, Yahoo! have announced that Mitt Romney had three of the top search memes of 2012 and let’s just say they weren’t always favorable for the luckless politician. Romney really made his mark in the “meme” category of Yahoo!’s searches this year, largely down to some major gaffes that he made during his presidential campaign.

In an attempt to show how incredibly sensitive he is towards the needs of women, he spoke at the second presidential debate in October, about the methods in which he hired women into his cabinet, in an attempt to bridge the “gender gap” between Republican voters. “I went to a number of women's groups and said: 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women,” said Romney. Subsequently, the phrase “binders full of women” made Romney something of a laughing stock. There is a seemingly endless supply of Romney memes online, with hilarious catchphrases such as “God Bless Half of America” and “Nothing Says ‘I Love America’ More Than Off-Shore Tax Shelters.” In this instance, though, online fame brings less respect than embarrassment.

Not so for Kim Kardashian, whose fame, success and wealth seems only to grow, as interest in her lifestyle shows no sign of abating. In fact, Kim was third in the list of popular search terms, losing out to two cultural behemoths: the 2012 US election and the iPhone 5.