Winnebago Man
Upload Date: March 24, 2006
There are blooper reels, and then there’s Winnebago Man. Starting life on VHS, the outtakes of this Winnebago sales video are so hilarious that the tape was actively copied and passed around before YouTube was but a twinkle in its founders eyes. When it eventually surfaced on the video sharing site in 2006, it swiftly racked up thousands of views and became one of the very first viral videos on the site.
However, the story of the foul-mouthed Winnebago Man didn’t end with his internet fame. In 2009, filmmaker Ben Steinbauer released a documentary giving a name to the profanity-propelling face, with Jack Rebney being revealed as the man behind the infamous outtakes. Rebney stated that he was once a news broadcaster, but dropped out of the profession after becoming disillusioned with its punditry and opinion-focused material.
The surprisingly touching documentary was very well-received by critics upon its release, and managed to win a selection of awards with Rebney going on to attend its premiere alongside Steinbauer and the likes of famed documentarian Michael Moore.
KONY 2012
Upload Date: March 5th, 2012
Non-profit organization Invisible Children, Inc’s video ‘KONY 2012’ is arguably the greatest example of both the good and the bad of the internet. A video which popularized the term “slacktivism,” KONY 2012 was ostensibly orchestrated by Invisible Children in order to raise awareness of the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony, an issue which hadn’t been placed in the media spotlight until the upload. Out of nowhere, the well-produced 30-minute call to arms attracted hundreds of millions of views, with it being circulated over the internet countless times alongside the hashtag “#StopKony.”
However, within the same week of the video being uploaded, Invisible Children’s background as an activist organization had been brought into question, along with the factual inaccuracies of their mini-documentary. Accused of oversimplifying a complex issue, Invisible Children were accused of creating something that could incite violence in Uganda, the base of operations for the LRA, along with their funding history being brought into question, with the organization having accepted donations from a number of sources associated with the Christian right-wing including the Caster Family Foundation, one of the biggest donors of the campaign against California’s anti-same sex campaign, Proposition 8.
The reactionary response to KONY 2012 from internet users, though well-meaning, caused pause for thought following the revelations regarding Invisible Children and the inaccuracies perpetuated in the video. One of the first examples of a campaign video successfully inciting an online outpouring of support to its cause, the subsequent backlash immediately turned people off the idea, with the organization’s real-life rallies in LA, New York and Sydney, held just one month following the video being posted, attracting around 3 protesters each.
Invisible Children’s reputation was sullied even further when one of its founders Jason Russell was filmed having a public breakdown, walking along a busy street completely naked whilst ranting about Satan. Russell was hospitalized for several weeks following this incident, with a statement from his family revealing that the breakdown had been caused by extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration.
Invisible Children is expected to be closed down this year, with the organization having never recovered from the immense backlash as a result of the KONY 2012 video.
Gangnam Style
Upload Date: July 15th, 2012
The west isn’t exactly wholly accepting of the music of different cultures. Rarely do artists from outside of our own sizable bubble manage to break into our charts, with us vastly preferring homegrown talent or, at the very least, foreign artists who appropriate their music fora western audience. However, South Korean artist Psy managed to break down those barriers in 2012, when his single ‘Gangnam Style’ was uploaded to YouTube and swiftly became a pop culture event the likes of which we hadn’t seen before.
That’s not an overstatement, either. Love it or loathe it, Gangnam Style was a huge event not just for YouTube and Psy, but for South Korea. Following the viral success of Gangnam Style, Psy was credited with helping further the Korean Wave (the term given to the increased interest in South Korean culture), with even Obama explaining how he felt America had become “swept up” by the track in a meeting with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye in the White House. He was also recognized as an “international sensation” by the United Nations.
Gangnam Style went on to become the first YouTube track to pass 1 billion views, with it currently sitting at 2.3 billion, with him producing a follow-up single that achieved similar success. ‘Gentleman’ was uploaded to YouTube in 2013, with it having now garnered over 800 million views. Psy has since signed to Scooter Braun Records, the home of Justin Bieber, and has relocated to LA in order to produce his next album.
Photo: Getty Images
