It’s beyond me why people seem to be baffled by the area distortion of the Mercator projection - is this not taught in high school geography classes in the USA?
In geography, we would learn what's on the map, not how the map was created and the different projections a map can have.
Because of this weird system, I feel the Mercator projection would be most relevant in... A geometry course? And as silly as it is, that was indeed my initial reaction to your comment, which made me laugh.
So map projections are in limbo between course subjects. I think that's why the Mercator projection is basically meme status -- That blind spot in education hits us all by surprise, it seems dead obvious, and so it tickles the funny bone.
Or simple when the map itself is secondary to the information presented on the map.
Regarding your second map, I remember clearly in my geography classes the teacher refused to show us a simple map of the world (always a globe) until we actually learned about projections. It was a bit extreme but effective at conveying the fact that all projections distort things one way or another.
Which is pretty strange, considering most classrooms and even homes have a globe laying around.
Maybe I’m just severely overestimating the scientific knowledge of the average person.