Have you ever heard of the Cinnamon Challenge? You know, the Internet trend that has people eat a tablespoon full of cinnamon and try not to cough it up violently? It can be seen all over YouTube and has been one of many online trends, also known as memes, to gain popularity. Seriously, there are thousands of videos of this online, so how did it get this big?
According to Know Your Meme, a video series dedicated to explaining these phenomena, the challenge started in 2001 when Michael Buffington documented Erik Goodlad doing the challenge and then posted it on his blog.
After that, the challenge died for a bit until 2006, when videos of it started going on YouTube. From there, however, the Cinnamon Challenge, as well as some other web challenges, exploded.
But why?
People have been posting videos of self-injury for years, so why did this phenomenon become bigger than some others?
The way Know Your Meme looks at it, the Cinnamon Challenge is so popular because “finding cinnamon and swallowing a spoonful requires very little time or effort. It’s accessibility and dramatic reaction make for consistently entertaining videos.”
So, as far as entertainment goes, the challenge has become so famous because people like watching other people hurt themselves.
“The idea appears to be that you can determine in-group versus out-group membership by who takes on the challenge,” said Dr. Melinda Messineo, a sociology professor at Ball State. “What is unusual about this feat of strength is that there appears to be as much cohesion among out-group members and in-group members because most people fail.”
So basically, when people participate in memes like the cinnamon challenge, it is putting them all on the same level because they are all virtually guaranteed to fail.
Even then, though, some do the challenge for a chance to be put into the spotlight. “It is about being seen, being watched—the focus on the public self,” said Dr. Messineo.
Tyler McDonald, a junior Information Systems major at Ball State recently did the Cinnamon Challenge with that intent in mind.
“One of my friends is really into Tosh.0 and he wanted people to send in videos about doing the Cinnamon Challenge,” he said. “We decided to film it and we drew straws to see who would be the unlucky person to do it and I drew the short straw.”
Even though he knew that some pain was experienced, he still did the challenge. Upon doing so, McDonald said he couldn’t swallow it and had a burning cloud of cinnamon dust flying out of his mouth and nose.
He definitely wouldn’t try it again.
“I will gladly watch someone else try to do it, but I’ll never do it again,” he said. “It was too painful.”
According to Know Your Meme, a video series dedicated to explaining these phenomena, the challenge started in 2001 when Michael Buffington documented Erik Goodlad doing the challenge and then posted it on his blog.
After that, the challenge died for a bit until 2006, when videos of it started going on YouTube. From there, however, the Cinnamon Challenge, as well as some other web challenges, exploded.
But why?
People have been posting videos of self-injury for years, so why did this phenomenon become bigger than some others?
The way Know Your Meme looks at it, the Cinnamon Challenge is so popular because “finding cinnamon and swallowing a spoonful requires very little time or effort. It’s accessibility and dramatic reaction make for consistently entertaining videos.”
So, as far as entertainment goes, the challenge has become so famous because people like watching other people hurt themselves.
“The idea appears to be that you can determine in-group versus out-group membership by who takes on the challenge,” said Dr. Melinda Messineo, a sociology professor at Ball State. “What is unusual about this feat of strength is that there appears to be as much cohesion among out-group members and in-group members because most people fail.”
So basically, when people participate in memes like the cinnamon challenge, it is putting them all on the same level because they are all virtually guaranteed to fail.
Even then, though, some do the challenge for a chance to be put into the spotlight. “It is about being seen, being watched—the focus on the public self,” said Dr. Messineo.
Tyler McDonald, a junior Information Systems major at Ball State recently did the Cinnamon Challenge with that intent in mind.
“One of my friends is really into Tosh.0 and he wanted people to send in videos about doing the Cinnamon Challenge,” he said. “We decided to film it and we drew straws to see who would be the unlucky person to do it and I drew the short straw.”
Even though he knew that some pain was experienced, he still did the challenge. Upon doing so, McDonald said he couldn’t swallow it and had a burning cloud of cinnamon dust flying out of his mouth and nose.
He definitely wouldn’t try it again.
“I will gladly watch someone else try to do it, but I’ll never do it again,” he said. “It was too painful.”
