After graduating in 1984 from Humboldt State University, he joined the Ocean Institute, an organization in Dana Point, California, dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history.[12] Hillenburg derived the character's name from Bob the Sponge, the host of his comic strip The Intertidal Zone, after changing it from SpongeBoy because of trademark issues."[14] The first concept sketch portrayed the character wearing a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie.[13] SpongeBob was designed to be a childlike character who was goofy and optimistic in a style similar to that made famous by Jerry Lewis.[7] Before commissioning SpongeBob as a full series, Nickelodeon executives insisted that it would not be popular unless the main character was a child who went to school.Puff, whose occupation as a driving instructor allowed SpongeBob to both appear as an adult and go to school, satisfying both Hillenburg and Nickelodeon.[18] Kenny said in an episode of WTF with Marc Maron that the voice was based on a frustrated dwarf actor he encountered while auditioning for a television commercial.In The SpongeBob Musical, his exact species of animal is identified: Aplysina fistularis, a yellow tube sponge that is common in open waters.SpongeBob's hobbies include fishing for jellyfish, practicing karate with his friend Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel from Texas),[32] and blowing bubbles.[37] James Poniewozik of Time magazine considered the character "the anti-Bart Simpson, temperamentally and physically: his head is as squared-off and neat as Bart's is unruly, and he has a personality to match–conscientious, optimistic and blind to the faults in the world and those around him."[38] The New York Times critic Joyce Millman said, "His relentless good cheer would be irritating if he weren't so darned lovable and his world so excellently strange... Like Pee-wee's Playhouse, SpongeBob joyfully dances on the fine line between childhood and adulthood, guilelessness and camp, the warped and the sweet."[39] Robert Thompson, a professor of communications and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, told The New York Times:There is something kind of unique about [SpongeBob].[41][42] In 2005, a promotional video which showed SpongeBob, along with other characters from children's shows, singing to promote diversity and tolerance[43] was criticized by a Christian fundamentalist group in the United States because they felt the SpongeBob character was being used as an advocate for homosexuality, despite the video containing "no reference to sex, sexual lifestyle or sexual identity.Dennis noted the two are "not consistently coded as romantic partners," since they live in separate residences, and have distinct groups of friends but claimed that in the series, "the possibility of same-sex desire is never excluded.[57] Parents and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) protested the ad for being sexist and inappropriately sexual, considering that SpongeBob's audience includes preschoolers.[58] CCFC director Susan Linn said the usage of SpongeBob promoting sexualized images of women was "utterly reprehensible".[61] In June 2020, Nickelodeon shared a tweet in celebration of Pride Month, featuring SpongeBob SquarePants wearing a rainbow-colored tie.Some users online interpreted the post as being the network's way of quietly announcing that the character was gay; series creator Hillenburg has previously stated he considered SpongeBob to be asexual.[65] Since at least 2002, SpongeBob became popular with gay men due to his "flamboyant lifestyle and tolerant attitude", despite Stephen Hillenburg asserting he is asexual.[69] The authors note that the hymenium, when viewed using scanning electron microscopy, somewhat resembles a "seafloor covered with tube sponges, reminiscent of the fictitious home of SpongeBob.[75][76] In Egypt's Tahrir Square, after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, SpongeBob became a fashion phenomenon, appearing on various merchandise items from hijabs to boxer shorts.[80] Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled Midan Masr."[83][84] Video footage of this account went viral, prompting Kenny to clarify during an interview with Entertainment Weekly at the convention three days later that he did not intend for this to be an official public statement about the character, and called it a "private moment that I had with a fan, but it seems like it's been empowering and helpful to people out there."[83] Fans on online forums have noted other behavior exhibited by SpongeBob can be interpreted as signs of neurodivergence, such as "meltdowns, blindness to sarcasm and inability to read social cues".Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom purposefully targeted its marketing at women there as a way to build the SpongeBob SquarePants brand.
An early drawing of the character by Hillenburg with the original name
Tom Kenny
provides the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants