Meme: Cinnamon Challenge By: Olivia Han
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The challenge: Take 1 spoonful of cinnamon and try to swallow it within 60 seconds without drinking anything, vomiting, or spitting the cinnamon out (1).
The history: The cinnamon challenge is a form of competitive eating that became a viral phenomenon on YouTube. Its origin precedes the history of video-sharing and the earliest known attempt was titled The Cinnamon Challenge 2001, hosted on Michael Buffington’s blog, and attempted by Erik Goodlad (3). The cinnamon challenge had a short-lived, small increase in popularity in 2007 (2, 4). The earliest YouTube version was uploaded on April 2nd, 2006 (3), and many YouTube videos of people attempting the challenge could be found in 2010 (2). Sixty-four people participated in the cinnamon challenge’s largest recorded group attempt which was held at the Australian university, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Lately, there has been some controversy surrounding the cinnamon challenge because articles have been writing about its health risks which include throat irritation, breathing difficulties, and a risk of pneumonia (2). In the first three months of 2012, American Poison Control Centers received 139 calls seeking help for cinnamon misuse and 122 of those were related to the cinnamon challenge (5). Cinnamon has been banned from some schools for its perceived risks (3).
Beginning of popularity and why it became so popular: The cinnamon challenge started becoming popular in November and December 2011 (2/100 and 6/100 of the peak search volume, respectively) (4). The cinnamon challenge is well known for extreme difficulty--and what some have called near impossibility. Its appeal lies in the ridiculous and often hilarious responses it elicits, ranging from shock and horrified faces following first intake, spewing out cinnamon in a manner called “dragon breath” because it resembles a fire-breathing dragon, a hungry search for water while choking for air, and vomiting if you are unlucky. The cinnamon challenge also became popular because most people have the spice in their cupboard already, is inexpensive to attempt, and not time consuming. If you have the courage and can spare a little embarrassment, it is very easy to participate in the cinnamon challenge and a participatory aspect is key to making something viral on Web 2.0.
How popular did it become and over what time span: A quick Google search of the phrase “cinnamon challenge yields close to 14 million results, and around the height of its popularity, the cinnamon challenge got nearly 70,000 Twitter mentions per day (2). In 2012, there were 30,000 YouTube videos tagged “cinnamon challenge” and that number has jumped to over 72,000 videos (6), with individual videos receiving 26.6 million views (as of February 22nd, 2013) Interestingly, the challenge was most popular in the United States, Canada, and Australia (4).
The cinnamon challenge hit its peak search volume in February 2012 and reached the end of its popularity spike in August 2012. Though the timespan of its popularity spike was about a year from November 2011-August 2012, the cinnamon challenge began entering popular consciousness in December 2011-January 2012. It became mainstream on the internet January 2012 to March 2012, when it reached peak search volumes over 50/100 (4).
Other memes related to the cinnamon challenge: The saltine cracker challenge involves eating at least 5 saltine crackers in 60 seconds without drinking anything (7). The gallon challenge typically has a person chug a gallon of milk within an hour (8). Both of these challenges existed before the cinnamon challenge and so were not influenced by it. However, the cinnamon challenge may have given rise to the banana sprite challenge, which was popularized by Tosh.0 and involves quickly ingesting 2 bananas with 2 liters of Sprite without vomiting (no time limit) (9).
Relevant videos:
Sources:
1. http://www.cinnamonchallenge.com/how-to-do-the-cinnamon-challenge/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_challenge
3. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cinnamon-challenge
4. http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%22cinnamon%20challenge%22&cmpt=q
5. http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/30/cinnamon-challenge-popular-with-teens-proves-risky/
6. http://www.app.com/article/20130218/NJNEWS15/302180092/-Cinnamon-Challenge-lives-on
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltine_cracker_challenge
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_chugging
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Sprite_challenge
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Meme: Gingers Do Have Souls By: Branden Kramer
The “Gingers Do Have Souls” video is a video that was posted by a teenage
boy who was sick of being picked on by the other kids at school for being a “ginger”
(red hair, freckles, etc.). The video is a response to the “Ginger Kids” episode of
“South Park.” In the episode, Eric Cartman makes an in class presentation about how
children with red hair are afflicted with “Gingervitis,” a disease that causes freckles,
susceptibility to sunlight, and lack of a soul. In the video, the boy goes on a long rant
about how gingers like him do have souls despite what “South Park” says. The video
was originally uploaded to YouTube in January of 2010, and it quickly gained
popularity, reaching its search volume peak on Google in March of 2010 (Google
Trends). However, the video never reached an extremely large level of popularity,
with its search volume on Google dropping back under 10 (max of 100) by July of
2010, never even climbing to half of the search volume of the “Chocolate Rain” video
and even to this day, the video still has under 33 million views on YouTube. In my
opinion, one of the reasons this video became as popular as it did is because it is a
blatant violation of one of the original rules of the Internet: don’t feed the trolls.
Because the teenager uploaded a video of himself losing his cool and freaking out
over a joke on South Park, the trolls of the Internet took advantage of it, even to the
point of Matt Parker and Trey Stone (creators of South Park) dressing up Eric
Cartman as the teenager and having him quote a few lines from the teenager’s rant
on an episode of South Park:
Had the boy not lost his cool in the video and had rather simply expressed his
distaste for the ginger jokes, I believe that the video would have never gained such
popularity and gone viral because people wouldn’t have enjoyed exploiting and
playing with his emotions had he not displayed such animated emotions.
Google Trends for Gingers Do Have Souls:
Google Trends for Gingers Do Have Souls vs. Chocolate Rain:
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Meme: LEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENKINNNNNNNNS! By: Javert Solorzano
What is it?
“Leeroy Jenkins” was the battle cry of a player from the MMORPG World of Warcraft,
before charging into certain death. As the video opens, you see a group of players outside
the entrance to a chamber discussing tactics and strategy for how to tackle the upcoming
danger. They do so for about a minute before Leeroy stands up and decides to shout his
name as he just rushes into the room and attracts all of the enemies, leading to the entire
parties demise. In the closing moments, his teammates are expressing their dissatisfaction
with him, but he is ok with it because “at least [he] still [has] chicken.”
How popular did it get?
The video gained popularity within the games online community, before coming on
to public the scene with an appearance on an episode of jeopardy and its subsequent
uploading to Youtube. Its popularity boomed from April 2005 until November of the sae
year, after which interest in Leeroy Jenkins began to drop off but didn’t disappear. The
video became popular enough to have references in deleted scenes of major movies such
as Monsters vs. Aliens and Year one as well as a reference in an episode of my name is earl
and more recently on the Daily show with John Stewart. The video was even acknowledged
by the game’s creator, Blizzard Entertainment, which released Leeroy Jenkins merchandise
and an in game achievement.
Below is a representation of the meme’s search history
Why?
The video grew to be so popular because it fed people’s sense of schaudenfreude. Here
you see people earnestly preparing for a difficult task in a setting where the players have
already exerted a lot of time and energy, only to see it fall apart because one guy decided
to throw caution to the wind. Don’t believe it’s a real thing, visit Youtube and compare the
number of videos and views for people accomplishing incredible things to those of people
failing epically at similar actions. That guilty pleasure derived from the misfortune of
others doesn’t actually have guilt here since the players suffered no actual harm, allowing
you to enjoy it even more. Another part of the allure comes from the dynamic between
Leeroy and his fellow teammates. During the slaughter you hear them insulting him and
calling him “too stupid” while he responds with an apologetic tone. But don’t feel to bad for
him. During this entire failure he has an air of nonchalance about him demonstrated in his
closing line about chicken.
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Meme: Nyancat By: Janice Wong
Nyancat first became popular on
the Internet in April 2011. Nyancat’s creator, prguitarman (Christopher Torres),
already had a sizeable audience due to this other comics circulating on the
Internet, and Nyancat was quickly circulated all over the web (via LOL-COMICS). He came up with
the idea for Nyancat when a charity event for the Red Cross suggested the image
of a poptart and cat. A YouTuber named saraj00n posted a video with
prguitarman’s image of Nyancat to a loop of the Japanese song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya”,
and this video was viewed over one million times in the first two weeks
following April 5th, 2011.
Nyancat’s catchy tune and vibrant/familiar aesthetics contributed to its
popularity. The loopy song paired with the familiar image of a Poptart and a
cat became an image that the Internet loved.
Nyancat is a grey cat with a pink Poptart body and a rainbow trailing after its behind. The song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya” is performed by a Japanese vocaloid (singing robot), named Hatsune Miku. The Youtube video has become popular because of its catchy tune, but there is also a website, http://nyan.cat, that records how long you can listen to its sickeningly cute song and rainbow graphics until you are unable to handle it any longer. There is not much meaning behind Nyancat, it is a very random Poptart cat flying through space, spewing rainbows. It’s much like any other timewaster on the Internet, similar to “poke the bunny” games that are just meant to pass time.
It was most popular in Sweden in April 2011, and has gradually become less popular following its peak. Nyancat is popular because it is a hybrid between two very popular types of memes already circulating the internet – a cat juxtaposed upon a profoundly ridiculous video/soundtrack. Timewasting, looping animations that display some kind of cute or catchy song is what best describes the Nyancat meme, reminiscent of the “Giga Pudding” song.
Google Insights:
Variations
of Nyancat have arisen, mostly displaying changes to its body and tail. Nyancat
in India depicts the same grey cat, but with a turban and lumpy naan-like body.
There have been variations of Nyancat to occur, mostly retaining its grey
pixilated appearance but with variations on the Poptart part of its body. Nyancat
“Pokemon” have also come into existence, further illustrating the popularity
and “cuteness” of the Nyancat.
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Meme: I'mma Let You Finish, But... (Kanye West) By: Wendy Li
Where?
MTV Video Music Awards, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, New York.
When?
September 13th, 2009.
Who?
Kanye Omari West is an African American musician, film director, and fashion designer
most well known for his rapping and producing talent. Kanye has been a prominent and
outspoken, even cocky, figure in pop culture since his debut album The College Dropout
in 2004, and has since released 6 successful studio albums.
Taylor West is the America’s Sweetheart pop-country singer-songwriter. Since 2006,
Taylor has won over not only the younger generations of tweens, but audiences of all
ages with her catchy tunes about young and innocent love, grueling heartbreak, and
everything in between.
What?
The infamous “I’ma let you finish” moment happened when a seemingly intoxicated
Kanye suddenly stormed onto stage after Taylors “You Belong With Me” video beat
Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” for Best Female Video. Kanye grabbed the microphone from
Taylor’s hands, and said – “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but
Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time! OF ALL TIME!” It didn’t take long after
that for the Internet to seize the awkward moment and turn into a meme, thus the birth of
the Kanye West “Yo I’ma let you finish… but…” meme.
The Meme
By the next day, September 14th, the Kanye West “I’ma let you finish” meme appeared
on 4chan as well as on gaming forums IGN and Neoseeker. Furthermore, the wesite
imaletyoufinish.com was created along with Tumblr topic “Kanyegate” and a Twitter
account “@KanyeInterrupts” which tweeted phrases in the same meme format of “Yo
[X], I’m really [adjective] for you. I’ma let you finish, but [Y] is the best [Z’s] of all
time! OF ALL TIME.” Between September 15th and 18th, many of these memes were
featured on Urlesque, Mashable, MTV, and the Daily Mail and on September 17th “I’ma
let you finish” was chosen as the Urban Dictionary Word of the Day.
Analysis:
I think many memes stemming from widely publicized pop culture events become
popular very quickly for certain reasons. Most importantly, society, and this generation
especially, has an extreme fascination with celebrities and their personal lives. We can’t
help but keep up with all the latest gossip of who wore what, who’s dating who, and we
continue to buy all the tabloid magazines on all the stands, even though most of them
aren’t even true. However, our obsession with popular culture doesn’t stem from only
admiration of celebrities, because as much as we love them, we love to ridicule them
even more. In my opinion, memes are popular because they are a participatory method of
ridiculing celebrities that gives average joes (as in non-celebrities) the ability to actively
make fun of celebrities at their most vulnerable moments. Thus, when a high-profile
rapper such as Kanye bullies America’s Sweetheart, Taylor Swift, on a popular nationally
televised award show, the Internet had a field day with Kanye’s moment of obscenity.
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Meme: Kim Jong-Un Looking at Things By: Timothy Kim
What is it?
Following the death of his father, North Korean state propaganda has begun releasing images of Kim Jong-Un at various facilities and areas around the country. Known as “field guidance” trips, these trips are used by Kim Jong-Un to provide advice to his people. People have since reposted these photos, and added captions mocking his actions by oversimplifying them.
“Looking at a pen”
When did this become popular/famous and why?
The parody tumblr blog “Kim Jong Un Looking at Things” was launched on December 18 th of 2011 following his rise to power after his father’s death, and was immediately a hit. This novelty tumblr account became famous mostly due to the original blog, “Kim Jong Il Looking at Things” which was a huge hit in 2010 and 2011, which was the same exact concept, excepted used his father instead. Thus, when his son came into power, it seemed obligatory for a similar blog of his son to arise.
Length of Popularity
The popularity of this meme was very short. At most, it saw mass traffic for several weeks following its release before dying out. This meme became famous due to the success of its precursor, and not particularly due to its own merit. In essence, I believe it was more of an internet obligation to create this meme following the rise of a new North Korean leader and the death of his father.
“Looking at tiles”
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Meme: Chuck Norris Facts By: Samuel Shaw
On May 12, 2004, NBC merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment and the deal lead to Conan O'Brien's running gag of the Walker Texas Ranger lever.
Chuck Norris Facts became popular because people wanted entertainment that was appropriate for the work place while also being short and sweet. Chuck Norris Facts also became very popular with the soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chuck Norris Facts are examples of how manly Chuck Norris is.
"Chuck Norris once urinated in a semi-truck's gas tank as a joke...that truck is now known as Optimus Prime."
In February 2006, Google searches for Chuck Norris peaked at 100 (the peak search volume for Google).
Different countries, like India, have memes based on native actors that are based on Chuck Norris Facts.
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Meme: "So I Herd You Liek Mudkipz" By: Jeff Dea
The phrase “I Herd U Liek Mudkipz” first became popular when DeviantArt wanted to invite
spelled, but are all frequently used to invite people to display their art on the Pokemon group.
For example, some people would spell “like” as “like” or add a “z” to the end of “Mudkip.” A
Mudkip is a type of Pokémon that emerged from the third series of Pokemon characters. It
is blue and orange, and has a dorsal fin on its head. This phrase originated in the early 2005, when DeviantArt started to frequently use the term. Many people did not know the meaning behind the phrase, so they interpreted it as an invitation to the MudKipClub community.
However, this phrase became very popular when a copypasta story was popularized around
2007, where a boy dressed as Ash Ketchum said he loved Mudkips and proceeded to hump
a stuffed doll of a Mudkip in school. This story was posted on a variety of message boards
and forums, including 4chan, eBaum’s World Forum, and Naruto Forums. This catchphrase
was even used by some Anonymous members to identify one another. The popularity of this
catchphrase and the topic of Mudkips spanned from early 2007 to mid-2009, peaking in April
2008. This is most likely because DeviantArt had started an April’s fool joke to have all of its
member’s change their avatars to Mudkips. From this trend, a variety of parodies and other
images have been created that involve Mudkips, including different variations and jokes about
Mudkips. For example, a popular video is an hour long video of two Mudkips saying “Mudkip,”
over and over to each other.
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Meme: Paula Deen Riding Things By: Vincent Cheah
Paula Deen was photographed riding on the back of Chef Robert Irvine (Dinner Impossible and Restaurant Impossible on Food Network), who was mimicking the pose of a jockey, on February 27, 2011. The very next day, photos of the Whole Foods Market Grand Testing Event were shared on various news sites and a Tumblr titled Paula Deen Riding Things was subsequently created by two college students. Every picture posted was a photoshopped picture of Paula Deen riding different things, such as sticks of butter, roller coasters, and
killer whales. I think this meme became so popular because Paula Deen is an icon when it comes to Southern cooking, gaining her fame through her home cooking show on Food Network in which she is famous for putting entire sticks of butter in just about everything. In addition, pictures of old ladies riding anything and everything are really hilarious.
This meme literally became popular overnight. With an entire Tumblr being dedicated to Paula Deen riding things the very next day after the picture was taken, there was a sharp spike in search volume in February, 2011 indicated by Google Insights, with a steady decrease to 2012. Search volume has stabilized in 2013 at about 10% of its peak. This meme has influenced the meme “Kim Jong-Il Looking at Paula Deen Riding Things,” which was also created in and made popular by a dedicated Tumblr.
The picture that started it all.
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Meme: Planking By: Rachel Cho
Planking became popular on the internet around 2010-2012,
but the practice of planking was said to be found in 1994 by comedian Tom
Green. A video was found of Green lying face down in middle of the street while
people would watch or walk by. This video was meant to pose a social question
of what people would do if they saw someone playing dead on the street, and
whether people would stop to see if he was okay. Planking is an amusing fad,
displaying a person lying straight across strange objects or in weird places.
It allows the plank-er to stand out while, in essence, playing dead. The
popularity of this fad has been amplified by its participatory nature, as it is
a very simple pose that anyone is capable of; planking positions can be
distinguished by how unusual a person can make his or her pose.
Planking involves a person lying face down with arms by the
person’s side in a strange setting. The term planking refers to the person
looking like a wooden plank. The novelty and uniqueness of a particular plank
depends on how absurd the surface on which a person planks is.
As seen by the Google Insights analysis, planking peaked
right at around August of 2011. The summer of 2011 is when Tom Green claimed to
have “founded” planking in 1994. The fad died out again around 2012, giving
this fad a relatively short lifespan of a little less than a year. Much
controversy revolved around this practice, since losing its novelty and becoming
overdone. Many injuries were also noted as a result of taking part of this fad.
Variations of planking include practices such as “Owling,”
“Teapotting,” “Horsemanning,” and “Batmanning.”
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Owling involves squatting on a narrow or small surface. The
owl-er is in effect, perched on a surface like an owl.
In general, variations have been formed by acting as a
mundane, rudimentary object in every day life, and posing as this object in a
strange place. These acts, like planking, allow the person performing the task
to stand out while doing something simple and acting as an insignificant
object.
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