Viral’s patient zero.

Part of the Beancast episode I was on this week covered the history of Subservient Chicken. For anyone who sends me PR releases about “viral” videos which, um, haven’t been released yet, or for anyone not familiar with the background behind the internet kink classic, read this breakdown from Barbarian Group on the 5-year anniversary. Viral as a term really took off when Subservient came out even though things like Blair Witch Project that came before could be just as easily be considered viral. In addition to the article though, read the comments section with some of Barbarian’s people adding further insight into the process as well as working with Crispin on it. Ignore gurus telling you to “Just make compelling content”—this is a case study on how it was done. One key thing everyone misses in explaining why something goes viral is context. Jack in the Box’s Larry The Crime Donkey aside, the zeitgeist of the fast food industry then was such that a freaky chicken in garters was overdue to cut through the typical bullshit food porn you still see so much of. (Food porn being gorgeous product shots with happy models happily being happy.)