The Mannequin Challenge is a viral Internet video trend which became popular in November 2016. In this challenge, participants have to stay still in action like a mannequin while a moving camera films them, often with the song "Black Beatles" by Rae Sremmurd playing in the background.[1][2] The hashtag #MannequinChallenge was used for popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. It is believed that the phenomenon was started by students at a high school in Jacksonville, Florida.[3] The initial posting has inspired works by other groups, especially professional athletes and sports teams, who have posted increasingly complex and elaborate videos.
News outlets have compared the videos to bullet time scenes from science fiction films such as The Matrix, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Lost in Space or Buffalo '66. Meanwhile, the participatory nature of the challenge on social media makes it similar to memes such as Makankosappo or the Harlem Shake.[4][5] Others have noted similarities with the HBO TV series Westworld, which debuted around the same time, where robotic hosts can be stopped in their tracks.[6]
Notable instances
editSports figures
edit
A number of notable sports teams, including both collegiate and professional, as well as sports personalities, have engaged in the challenge.[7] Notable instances of sport-figure participation include:
- Pittsburgh Steelers, in their locker room on November 4.[8]
- Penn State Football, in their locker room on November 5.[9]
- Anaheim Ducks, at their 80s center ice party on November 13.[10]
- Dallas Cowboys, on their team plane on November 6.[11][12]
- Buffalo Bills, on their team plane on November 6.[13]
- New York Giants, in their home locker room on November 6.[13]
- Milwaukee Bucks, on their team plane on November 6.[14][15]
- University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, in a home exhibition game against Asbury University. Thousands of attendees in the basketball arena participated.[16]
- Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry, with his wife Ayesha, posted a version done at a restaurant full of patrons.[17]
- The crew of NXT made a two-minute video that was posted on November 8.[18]
- Brigham Young University women's gymnastics team, in their gym.[19]
- US Military Academy at Westpoint men's gymnastics team.[20]
- Borussia Dortmund, of the German Bundesliga, in a weight room.[21]
- Portugal national football team with Cristiano Ronaldo in their locker room.[22]
- Manchester United players Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.[23]
- Aston Villa squad[24]
- England international footballers Jamie Vardy, Raheem Sterling and Theo Walcott froze in place after scoring a second goal vs Spain in a friendly match on November 15.[25]
- Spain national football team inside the Wembley changing room after their friendly match against England.[26]
- Belgium national football team.[27]
- European Tour golfers at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai[28]
- United States women's national soccer team posted a video doing the challenge on November 13.[29]
- United States gymnasts Simone Biles, Nastia Liukin and Danell Leyva took part in a video while practicing for the Kellogg's Tour of Champions on November 13.[30]
- World champion figure skaters joined the challenge on November 13 at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Trophée de France 2016/2017.[31]
- Indonesian footballer Lerby Eliandry and Thai footballer Teerasil Dangda with their respective teammates after scoring a goal in their Group Stage match of 2016 AFF Championship.[32]
Television broadcasters who have participated include:
- SEC Network sportscasters, crew and student crowd, on set November 5.[33][34]
- ESPN College Gameday sportscasters and student crowd, November 5.[35]
- Fox NFL Sunday sportscasters and crew, on set November 6.[36]
- CBS Evening News crew, on set November 16.[37]
College football teams that posted videos include Old Dominion University,[7] Temple University,[33] University of Pittsburgh,[38] Louisiana State University.[34][39]
Artists and celebrities
editOnce many versions of the challenge began surfacing with Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beatles" as the background music, Rae Sremmurd paused a concert to do a Mannequin Challenge video live on stage.[40][41]
Dancing With the Stars in the U.S. created a video with cast and crew on the dance floor that was posted to dancer Val Chmerkovskiy's Instagram account.[42]
Musical artists who participated included:
- The former members of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland, created a video on November 7.[43]
- Singer Adele adopted a Western theme in a November 7 video.[44]
- Country singer Garth Brooks created a video while live on stage in a concert on November 12.[45]
- Singer Britney Spears celebrated winning, for the second year in a row, Best Resident Performer in the Best of Las Vegas Awards by posting a video on her Instagram page on November 13 of her and her dancers doing the challenge to the sound of her single "Slumber Party", taken from her album Glory.[46]
- Electronic dance music producer and DJ Marshmello recorded a video on stage in concert, with the crowd participating, at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.[47]
- Former Beatles member Paul McCartney did this challenge by standing by a piano frozen while the song is playing. He showed his support for the song and the artists in a Twitter message.[48][49]
- Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Dermot O'Leary, along with The X Factor UK live audience and dancers participated live on 26 November 2016, during Honey G's performance of "Black Beatles".[50]
- Reaks Records, UK released the "Mannequin Challenge" EP produced by DJ AKS.[51]
- Taylor Swift participated in the challenge on Thanksgiving at a beach.[52]
Ellen DeGeneres and Warren Beatty created a video of a table tennis game and posted it to Instagram.[53]
The Late Late Show with James Corden created an elaborate video of more than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, that involved the entire crew, backstage area and studio audience.[54]
Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian created a video in the hospital delivery room.[55]
The cast of Saturday Night Live created a video along with Kristen Wiig as a promotion for the season's November 19, 2016 episode.[56]
First Lady Michelle Obama froze for the Mannequin Challenge together with LeBron James and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers during their visit to the White House to be honored for their NBA Championship victory.[57]
On November 18, 2016, the erotic dance troupe Chippendales uploaded their Challenge on their social medias.[58][59][60] On November 22, actress Tracee Ellis Ross coordinated a video before the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House, which included celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Bill Gates, Diana Ross, Rita Wilson, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Frank Gehry.[61]
On December 6, celebrity attendees at the 2016 British Fashion Awards participated in the challenge as Gigi Hadid won the award for International Model of the Year.[62] Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Christopher Bailey, Franca Sozzani, Kate Moss, Yolanda Foster and Naomi Campbell were also part of it.[citation needed]
On December 14, the Boston Pops Orchestra and Conductor Keith Lockhart participated in the challenge during a rehearsal for the orchestra's 43rd Annual Holiday Pops Season and posted a video on YouTube.[citation needed]
On December 21, the crew of Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay participated in the challenge and posted a video on Facebook[citation needed]
Politicians
editOn November 7, the night before election day, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton participated in a video with Jon Bon Jovi, Bill Clinton, Huma Abedin and various staffers on her campaign plane.[63][64]
First Lady Michelle Obama posed for a video with the NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers at the White House.[65][66]
Former Managing Director of World Bank Group and current Indonesian Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, did the challenge after delivering a lecture at Padjadjaran University, along with the Rector and thousands of students whom attended the lecture.[67]
On December 13, Westmount, Quebec's city council became the first municipality to release a mannequin challenge filmed in the council chambers.[68] The video features eight council members and the mayor frozen during a seemingly chaotic council meeting.
Activism
editOn November 10, film makers Simone Shepherd, Kevalena Everett and Todd Anthony made a series of videos that re-created scenes related to the Black Lives Matter movement, as a promotional teaser for their feature film Black in Blue.[69][70]
In November 2016, the Revolutionaries of Syria Media Office, a Syrian media organisation, published a video showing two White Helmet volunteers performing a staged rescue operation for the meme. The organisation apologised for their volunteers' error of judgement and said it had not shared the recording on their official channels.[71][72]
Legacy
editVideos of the challenge uploaded to YouTube have been used to advance machine learning research in depth prediction.[73][74]
Other examples
edit- NASCAR
- Alex Bowman racing team[13]
- Hendrick Motorsports[13]
- Team Lowe's Racing[13]
- Alabama Department of Corrections[75]
- German Army[76]
- Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority[13]
- International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries[77]
- Big data startup, ZoomData[78]
- Astronauts on the International Space Station[79]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Tesema, Martha (November 3, 2016). "The Mannequin Challenge will actually make you miss planking". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Victor, Daniel (November 7, 2016). "Mannequin Challenge Is the New Viral Video Sensation You Probably Can't Avoid". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ Suber-Jenkins, Aric (November 7, 2016). "Mannequin Challenge Origin: The true story of the coolest viral video trend of the year". .Mic. Archived from the original on March 23, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ Strange, Adario (November 8, 2016). "The 'Mannequin Challenge' is letting us live our sci-fi dreams". Mashable. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ "The mannequin challenge: like the Harlem Shake, but stationary". The Guardian. November 7, 2016. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ Alexander, Julia (November 14, 2016). "People can't stop comparing Westworld to the Mannequin Challenge". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
- ^ a b "Football teams are stopping everything for the 'mannequin challenge'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Vergara, Andre. "Pittsburgh Steelers' Mannequin Challenge is so cool it's frozen". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "Penn State pulls off 'Mannequin Challenge' after blowout win vs. Iowa". November 6, 2016. Archived from the original on January 6, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- ^ @AnaheimDucks (November 15, 2016). "#MannequinChallenge, 80s style 😎" (Tweet). Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2016 – via Twitter.
- ^ Ingrassia, Nunzio. "Watch Cowboys pull off ridiculously elaborate mannequin challenge on team plane". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Podlesny, Molly (November 6, 2016). "The Cowboys celebrated their 7-1 record by doing the Mannequin Challenge on a plane ¯\_(ツ)_/¯". SBNation.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f "Cowboys, Bills and Bucks do mile-high 'mannequin challenge' renditions on their airplanes". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Milwaukee Bucks [@Bucks] (November 6, 2016). "#MannequinChallenge" (Tweet) – via Twitter. "#MannequinChallenge"
- ^ "WATCH: Milwaukee Bucks Do 'Mannequin Challenge' On Team Plane". SLAMonline. November 6, 2016. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Diaz, Hector. "Everyone at the Kentucky basketball game did the Mannequin Challenge". SBNation.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "Steph and Ayesha Curry Just Won the 'Mannequin Challenge' Sweeping the Internet". People. November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "Watch Entire NXT Wrestling Roster Pull Off 'Mannequin Challenge'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
- ^ "The BYU gymnastics team just won the 'Mannequin Challenge'". espnW. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "Hold still! The mannequin challenge is freezing the internet". CNET. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ West, Aaron. "Borussia Dortmund did the Mannequin Challenge and absolutely crushed it". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Metro.co.uk, James Goldman for (November 12, 2016). "Cristiano Ronaldo wins the mannequin challenge with borderline NSFW pose". Metro. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Kelly, Ciaran (November 13, 2016). "Manchester United duo Rashford and Lingard take on Mannequin challenge". men. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ Wollaston, Steve (November 19, 2016). "Aston Villa players do the 'mannequin challenge'". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^ Metro.co.uk, Metro Sport Reporter for (November 15, 2016). "Jamie Vardy celebrates England goal with nod to the mannequin challenge". Metro. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Prenderville, Liam (November 15, 2016). "Watch Spain reply to Vardy's mannequin challenge with effort of their own". mirror. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ "Belgium's brilliant mannequin challenge with Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard and more". SKY Sports. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ "WATCH: European Tour rocks mannequin challenge at World Tour Championship". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Murray, Caitlin. "The USWNT's excellent Mannequin Challenge includes surprise cameo". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
- ^ "Simone Biles and U.S. gymnasts post gravity-defying mannequin challenge". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
- ^ OlympicTalk (November 14, 2016). "U.S., world champion figure skaters join Mannequin Challenge". OlympicTalk. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ "Selebrasi "Mannequin" Ala Lerby Eliandry & Teerasil Dangda" (in Indonesian). FourFourTwo Indonesia. November 19, 2016. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ a b "Temple, Penn State take the Mannequin Challenge". 6abc Philadelphia. November 6, 2016. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ a b "From Tim Tebow to Clemson: 10 awesome college football 'Mannequin Challenge' videos". For The Win. November 6, 2016. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Sanchez, Josh (November 5, 2016). "Video: One guy ruins College GameDay's Mannequin Challenge". Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ "Mannequin Challenge comes to FOX NFL Sunday set". theScore.com. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ CBS Evening News (November 16, 2016). "CBS Evening News" #mannequinchallenge. Retrieved November 14, 2024 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Pitt football team, packed plane take on Mannequin Challenge after win over Clemson". WXPI News. November 13, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
- ^ "Check out LSU's mannequin challenge during flight to Arkansas". NOLA.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Auc Hot Spot (November 5, 2016), Rae Sremm Stops Concert To Do Mannequin Challenge #MannequinChallenge, archived from the original on November 5, 2016, retrieved November 7, 2016
- ^ "Rae Sremmurd Execute Perfect Mannequin Challenge". XXL Mag. November 4, 2016. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Lemoncelli, Jenna (November 7, 2016). "Mannequin Challenge: 'DWTS' Cast & Crew Take On The Craze & It's The Best Yet: Watch". Hollywood Life. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "Destiny's Child Just Reunited to Do the Mannequin Challenge". Harper's BAZAAR. November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "Adele Goes Western for the Mannequin Challenge: Watch". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ "Garth Brooks Takes the 'Mannequin Challenge' [WATCH]". The Boot. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
- ^ "BRITNEY SPEARS NAILED THE MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE WITH HER ENTIRE DANCE TEAM". MTV News. November 11, 2016. Archived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
- ^ "Watch Marshmello Rock Giant Mannequin Challenge at Sold-Out LA Show". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
- ^ "Paul McCartney Takes the 'Mannequin Challenge': Watch His Hilarious Video". People. November 10, 2016. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Bruner, Raisa. "Watch Paul McCartney's Super-Meta Mannequin Challenge". Time. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ McGeorge, Alistair (November 26, 2016). "Stage invaders, mannequin challenge and Honey G's MUM steal the show on X Factor". Mirror. Archived from the original on November 27, 2016. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ "Mannequin Challenge - EP by DJ AKS on Apple Music". iTunes Store. November 17, 2016. Archived from the original on November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
- ^ "Taylor Swift Beach Mannequin Challenge". Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
- ^ "Destiny's Child, Adele and More Celebs Freeze for the Mannequin Challenge". People. November 8, 2016. Archived from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ Finley, Taryn (November 8, 2016). "These 14 Mannequin Challenges Will Get You Through Election Day Anxiety". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ "Blac Chyna, Rob Kardashian do birth-themed mannequin challenge". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ "SNL Host Kristen Wiig And The Cast Do The Mannequin Challenge [WATCH]". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
- ^ EndPlay (November 13, 2016). "Watch Michelle Obama's #MannequinChallenge with the Cleveland Cavaliers". WFXT. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Mannequin Challenge by Chippendales #MannequinChallenge". YouTube. November 18, 2016.
- ^ Chippendales® [@Chippendales] (November 18, 2016). "#Chippendales gettin' stiff backstage. #MannequinChallenge" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Chippendales® on Instagram: "We're counting down your 5 favorite moments of #Chippendales in 2016! 🎆 #2 - when the Men put their own spin on this year's viral…"". Archived from the original on December 24, 2021.
- ^ "Is this the most star-packed Mannequin Challenge yet?". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
- ^ Isis Briones (December 8, 2016). "Gigi Hadid Does Mannequin Challenge at 2016 British Fashion Awards". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on December 11, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
- ^ Samuelson, Kate. "Jon Bon Jovi Joins Hillary Clinton for a 'Mannequin Challenge'". Time. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ "Video: Clinton's Team Poses for 'Mannequin Challenge'". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ "Cavs do the Mannequin Challenge with Michelle Obama at the White House". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ "Michelle Obama and the Cleveland Cavaliers Win the Mannequin Challenge". Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ Gideon, Arthur (November 30, 2016). "Sri Mulyani Beraksi Mannequin Challenge dengan Ribuan Mahasiswa" (in Indonesian). Liputan6. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ "Westmount city officials take on festive #manniquinchallenge". Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
- ^ "Black Lives Matter create the most powerful Mannequin Challenge yet". The Independent. November 11, 2016. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ "Black Lives Matter Takes On Mannequin Challenge With Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland Depictions". Inside Edition. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ "White Helmets backlash after Mannequin Challenge video". BBC News. November 24, 2016. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
- ^ "Syria's White Helmets apologize for Mannequin Challenge video". CNN. November 24, 2016. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- ^ "Google Ai Blog: Moving Camera, Moving People: A Deep Learning Approach to Depth Prediction". Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
- ^ Li, Zhengqi (2019). "Learning the Depths of Moving People by Watching Frozen People". arXiv:1904.11111 [cs.CV].
- ^ "Alabama inmates mannequin challenge video goes viral, ADOC searching for the source of the video". AL.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ "Youtube Video of the Series 'Die Rekruten' (the recruits)". Archived from the original on May 2, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ "Holy Mannequin Challenge! Rabbis get in on viral craze". Cnet.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ^ "Zoomdata takes on the Mannequin Challenge". Zoomdata. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
- ^ December 2016, Christine Lunsford 30 (December 30, 2016). "An Out Of This World #MannequinChallenge". Space.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)