Viral Friday: Journalist Throws Shoes At Bush

Written by Niels Bellaar on December 19th, 2008 | 1 comment

Viral Friday is the weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 5 most popular viral videos, commercials or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.

This weeks Viral Friday #1 position goes to Iraqi Journalist Throws Shoes At Bush. President Bush’s farewell visit to Iraq last weekend became an instant internet hit thanks to Iraqi TV journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi. The runner up spot is for Shanghai Lady Drives Off With Tow Truck. A Chinese Chevrolet Captiva owner is angry that her SUV is going to be towed… Cute Animal Christmas Song completes this week’s top 3. The BBC wishes its viewers a happy holiday season, but also asks them to help our furry friends.

Do you want to see this week’s list from 1 to 5? Go on then, and have a look! We’d like to hear your opinion about the virals. Have fun!

1. Iraqi Journalist Throws Shoes At Bush

President Bush’s farewell visit to Iraq last weekend became an instant internet hit thanks to Iraqi TV journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi. During the press conference the President had with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Muntadar took aim and threw his shoes at the President. A combination of the journalists’ bad aim and Bush’s expertise at ducking flying objects saved the president from any potential harm. Only 48 hours after its release, the video had already generated 10.7 million views and 93,000+ comments. At the moment the view count almost reaches 12 million.
(Source: Culture-buzz)

2. Shanghai Lady Drives Off With Tow Truck

To promote Chevrolet’s Captiva, a crossover SUV developed by General Motors’s GM Daewoo design center, the car manufacturer launched the above video in which “A Chinese Chevrolet Captiva owner is angry that her SUV is going to be towed so she gets into her car, starts the engine, and begins driving off…while pulling the tow truck with her.” The viral reached almost 2 million views since it was uploaded on December 7th.
(Source: YouTube)

3. Cute Animal Christmas Song

With the above video the BBC wishes its viewers a happy holiday season, but also asks them to help our furry friends. While most people only think about themselves and their closest friends at Christmas time, the BBC reminds us we should also take care of the animals. Wonder what you can do to help them out? It is all listed on a dedicated website which includes numerous fast, easy, and occasionally adventurous examples of how we can join the animal aid effort. Credits and more info on the campaign on Coloribus.com.
(Source: Culture-buzz)

4. Beware Of The Doghouse

JCPenney released an ad called The Doghouse that fictionalizes the plight of men who buy the wrong gifts for their significant others. In the ad, a well-intentioned man buys his wife a new dual bag vacuum for Christmas, only to find himself dropped into the doghouse, an underworld prison where men go when they purchase bad presents for the women in their lives. The ad has been viewed over 1.7 million times since J.C. Penney uploaded it to BewareOfTheDoghouse.com and YouTube three weeks ago and has over 360 blog reactions, which makes the ad a successful one.
(Source: Wired)

5. Girls Of Fleggaard

Fleggaard, a Danish e-retailer, made an ad featuring hundreds of women skydiving topless (which is nice) to promote a great deal on washing machines. Needless to say the video is NSFW. Previously Fleggaard lured people to their stores by driving strippers and a strip pole through town.
(Source: AdFreak)

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