Annoying Orange

2009

Date: 9 October 2009 · Place: YouTube, produced in Bakersfield, California · Figures: Dane Boedigheimer, creator and voice · Tags: Kidcore, Live Action Animation, Pre-Algorithm 01. A Citrus Heckles A Knife On 9 October 2009 Dane Boedigheimer uploads The Annoying Orange, a four-minute video in which a CGI face composited onto a real orange torments other produce until a chef kills it. The video accumulates over one hundred million views and spawns a franchise. By 2012 the channel has produced a Cartoon Network series and is one of the ten most-subscribed accounts on YouTube. 02. The First Algorithmic Kidcore Annoying Orange is among the earliest channels to discover that YouTube's recommendation system disproportionately rewards content that holds the attention of unsupervised children. Its formula, bright colors, repetitive humor, looping voice, anticipates the YouTube Kids economy by half a decade. It is the entry point for the conversation about platform incentives and child viewership that will become urgent in the 2017 Elsagate scandal. Sources • KnowYourMeme, 'Annoying Orange' • Variety, 'Annoying Orange to Get Cartoon Network Series' (8 December 2010) • Daily Beast, 'How Annoying Orange Conquered YouTube' (19 May 2012)