Dumb Ways to Die

"Dumb Ways to Die" is an Australian PSA (Public Safety Announcement) for train safety that was popular a couple years ago after the animation was made and it went viral on various forms of social media. It gained massive popularity due to its uniqueness; no one had and probably ever will again see a PSA of this nature.

This video was so popular it spawned an app version, where you have to try and successfully do things that the characters in the video died from. It is addictive and entertaining, albeit simplistic, and was downloaded by millions. There were even spoofs of "Dumb Ways to Die" made (most of them inappropriate) as well as followups by the original company, most of them themed around holidays. It even has an online store!

Why did this video grow as popular as it did? I believe it was due to its 'cute' portrayal of death and catchy song. All of the characters are strangely adorable and the ways they die are just so, shall I say, dumb, that it is almost laughable. It is so happy and upbeat for a song about dying, and that is charming and disturbing. It is something that you feel guilty about liking so much. You feel that you should hate it, but you can't.

The fact that it is animated also helps achieve its horrific charming quality. When something is animated, society generally tends to think of it as meant for children and less serious than something live action. While I would usually disagree with that, it is true in this case. Because the video is basically an adorable animated song, we can't help but love it, even if it is about death.      

video used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw