By now , so many groups have extract off successfulflash mobs , it ’s hard to trust the very first one was a binge . Bill Wasik , an editor at Harper ’s magazine who ’s known as the " inventor " of the twinkling syndicate , get off an east - mail to about 60 friends and conversance in May 2003 , asking them to fill up at a particular prison term in front of a Claire ’s Accessories store near Astor Place in Manhattan to create " an inexplicable mob of multitude in New York City " [ origin : Wasik ] .
call this social experiment " MOB , " Wasik intended to poke fun at the fleeting , corporate whims of hipster culture , and he planned out every detail of the effect , down to having attendees synchronize their ticker and approaching from all four cardinal directions , so they ’d all arrive at the same time . But there was one job : Somebody tipped off the cops . When MOB participant show up at Claire ’s that spring daylight , police force blocked their entering to their store , make Wasik ’s first wink mob attempt a unsuccessful person [ root : Wasik ] .
Since then , of course , flash gang have taken on a life of their own , occurring all over the mankind and for a variety of reason : to bring cognisance to good campaign , to commemorate cultural icons , to arouse up bombination about products , and even just to create acts of public silliness . Some have involved 10 of thou of participants and been look at many times over in video form .
Many flash family could be described as mind - blowing , but for this list , we ’ll look at a few that have received 1000000 of views on YouTube , and a twosome , like the first one on our list , that were polar in the ontogeny of the fad .
5: Wasik’s Second MOB, 2003
After Bill Wasik ’s first MOB fizzle out , he apace prepare about planning for another effort just two weeks by and by in June 2003 – and this time he took steps to check that the police would n’t overhear wind of the plan . He asked participants to gather at four different taproom the twenty-four hours of second event , and just 10 minute of arc before it was to take blank space , they receive trip of paper telling them where to go : Macy ’s carpet section . Once there , all 200 mobbers convened around a special rug and , as instructed , told sales fellow that they were Long Island City commune residents expect for a " love carpet " [ seed : Wasik ] .
Thus , Wasik rise that he could get people to produce a scene just for the rice beer of doing it , and this 2nd MOB was considered a success . Furthermore , it made national headlines as people tried to get to the bottom of how and why this social experiment actually worked . Blogger Sean Savage of Cheesebikini.com coined the term " flash mob " to describe the phenomenon of groups gathering for spontaneous public presentation at pre - plotted locations , and a trend was bear [ source : Wasik ] .
4: Manchester Supermarket Flash Mob, 2007
This flash ring , which took place in Manchester , England , on March 14 , 2007 , catch the " head - blowing " appellative in part because a YouTube video of the result has been viewed more than 6 million times over the preceding four years . And it ’s no wonder . The video , which credits three University of Manchester students – Ben Cooper , Thomas Cousins and Lucy Mans – trance several dozen supermarket shoppers attempting a mass freezing frame for about four minutes .
As the view open up at around 5:30 p.m. on that Wednesday in March , everyone in the supermarket looks like denounce unremarkably . Suddenly there ’s the sound of a geartrain travel by , and by the clock time the sound pass , about 50 supermarket customer have frozen in place examining green goods , mouth with friends – some are even lying on the floor or posture in shopping carts . Non - participating customers ill-use gingerly around the mannequinlike freeze - framers , who do n’t shift until a tin whistle blow several transactions later on , and the whole performance end as suddenly as it begin .
3: Thriller Dance, Mexico City, 2009
It ’s not the most - watched video onYouTube ; nor is it the best - attended flashing crime syndicate in history . But this event that take place in Mexico City on August 29 , 2009 – just weeks after pop iconMichael Jackson ’s death , on what would have been his 51st birthday – carry a record of a unlike variety . It ’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the large " Thriller " saltation ever [ beginning : Guiness ] .
The Instituto de la Juventud del Gobierno del Distrito Federal organise this flashgun crime syndicate at the Monumento a la Revolucion in Mexico City , and 13,597 the great unwashed participated [ reference : Guiness ] . The only directive appears to have been to perform the " zombie dance " from " Thriller " medicine video , and many player go dressed as zombies , though some were dressed as the soda singer himself . Because the effect materialise before the stupor of Jackson ’s death had amply subsided , video of the event made it to mainstream newscast worldwide .
2: Oprah Surprise Flash Mob, Chicago 2009
Someflash mobsare shocking due to their see-through spontaneity . This one , which choose place on Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Sept. 8 , 2009 , may spellbind you because of how well - choreographed it is . It took billet during a live Black Eyed Peas performance of the song " I bewilder a feel " for The Oprah Winfrey Show ’s Season 24 first party , and involved a crowd of about 21,000 people dance in unison [ source : Riley ] . The dancing bug appeared to circulate gradually throughout the crowd . It started with just a lonesome terpsichorean in front of the stagecoach , hopping up and down enthusiastically as everyone else stand stoically around her . presently , a half - twelve other dancers join in to her left , right and behind her . And the wave spread .
Australian Michael Gracey produced the event and cast several professional dancers to take part [ root : Riley ] . The day of the event , those professional learn the dance to several hundred Oprah fans in the crowd , and several thousand more just pick up on during the performance . Videos of the dancing show Winfrey watching the spectacle with delight and , at the end , outcry , " This is the coolest affair ever ! "
1: Food Court Hallelujah Chorus, Ontario, Canada, 2010
This flashgun family , which took place in the Welland Seaway Mall in Ontario on Nov. 13 , 2010 , makes the leaning largely because of the mind - blowing routine of view the online video for it has racked up in less than a year – more than 34 million , to be accurate . But the event itself is also pretty awing . organise by Alphabet ® Photography with aid from the singers of Chorus Niagara , it kick off in the mall ’s food court at gamey noon , just as several shoppers were taking a lunch break under the rank signs of Arby ’s , Gino ’s Pizza and Famous Wok .
short , the sound of an Hammond organ pause into the din of the great unwashed discourse over their fast - nutrient meals . The opening bars to a familiar Handel tune floated through the breeze , and a young girl on a cubicle telephone set stood up at the border of the scene . In a powerful treble , she open up the chorus line : " Haaaa - le - lu - jah ! Haaa - lupus erythematosus - lu - jah ! " Other singer joined in across the food court – some standing on chairs , others sitting at tables , and still others lurking along the edges of the gang . Bystanders displume out their cameras and begin record . Eventually , there were about 100 singers participating .
Alphabet ® Photography is said to have orchestrated this wink family " to wish everyone a Merry Christmas , " which is a far cry from the eminent end of Bill Wasik ’s first flash rout seek back in 2003 . Perhaps it ’s just one sign of how much flash crime syndicate have develop over the year , though they never cease to jolt and amaze .
