It's been 10 years since 2 Girls 1 Cup and it's still as shocking as ever (2024)

Ten years ago, one of the best-known shock videos in history hit the internet for the very first time.

And with it camethousands of reaction videos.

What video you ask? 2 Girls 1 Cup, of course.

If you didn’t already know, the short film featured two girls, one cup, faeces, and vomit – and it’s probably one of the reasons online content doesn’t shock people as much as it used to anymore.

However, despite being ever so disturbing, it racked up millions of views in the days after its release in 2007.

But just why was the clip so popular?

Well, according toAndy Atalla is founder of digital marketing agency, Atom42, the fact that the video was so ‘absurd and ludicrous’ played a huge part.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, he said: ‘For a video to go viral, it needs to have one or more of the ‘Three Hs’.

‘That is, it needs to have heart – to to tug at people’s heart strings, to be helpful – to add value to them, or to have humour – to make them laugh.

‘2 Girls, 1 Cup is a strange one because while it’s not obviously funny in the regular sense of the word, there’s definitely a strong element of the absurd and a ludicrousness to it, which makes it entertaining.

‘As for the other two Hs, I’m fairly sure those don’t apply in this instance!

‘There was also an element of timing which made this work. It was both the most gruesome, and grotesque video which most people would have ever seen.

‘Something so disturbing, you almost couldn’t believe you were watching it.’

Speaking of those who couldn’t believe they were watching it, theBrazilian scat-fetish p*rnographic film, which was produced by MFX Media, was one of the first topics addressed by online bloggers inreaction videos.

Why? Well according to Sam Anderson from the New York Times, online reactions allowed people to ‘experience its dangerous thrill without having to encounter it directly.’

Meaning people who heard about the clip, but didn’t want to watch it, could do so by watching the face of someone else.

And these videos are to thank for the popularity of the clip, which was even watched by the likes of George Clooney and Kermit the Frog.

Stewie also watched the viral clip in an episode of Family Guy, and millions tuned inas people including a grandmother, the marines, and Jessica Alba squirmed in reaction videos of their own.

Even Joe Rogan, the host of Fear Factor, had to look away… which really says something.

Mr Atalla added: ‘Whilst you certainly wouldn’t want to watch it more than once, it really took on a new lease of life in the follow up ‘reaction’ videos.

‘In these, if you remember, people were shown watching Two Girls, One Cup, and this actually served to continue to raise awareness and intrigue of the original video, in a much more accessible and shareable way.’

Andy Barr, managing director of 10Yets agency, said: ‘Unlike more traditional viral campaigns such as Gangnam Style or the John Lewis Christmas TV ads, this content did not need a large database to send it out to in order to get it off the ground.

‘The shocking nature of the content meant that it brought the worst out in human nature– with people wanting to watch something that people knew would shock them.’

After its release, 2 Girls 1 Cup was also named as one of the most shocking videos to hit the internet.

Mainly because most people had never seen anything like it.

In fact, people are still searching for it today.

Corey price, VP of p*rnhub said: ‘While completely against our TOS and not hosted in p*rnhub as a result, we still get around 1000 unique searches for it every day.

‘We feel it went viral because it was one of the first shock videos and at the time YouTube was a new place to share hilarious reactions that pushed the fame of the video even higher.’

The film even sparked a series of shock videos, with titles including2 Girls 1 Finger, 8 Girls No Cup, 1 Guy 1 Jar, and even1 Girl 1 Cake, the nickname for the 2008 viral shock video – Cake Farts.

Since it came out on January 6, 2007, an enormous number of reactions, homages, and parodies have followed – most of which have gone viral on YouTube.

It’s thanks to all of this that we remember the likes of 2 Girls 1 Cup 10 years on.

However in all honesty, ‘thanks’ may be the wrong word.

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