Crazy Frog

Crazy Frog advert produced by German based mobile phone content distributor, Jamba! GmbH

Crazy Frog is the marketing title of a ring tone based on The Annoying Thing, a computer animation created by Erik Wernquist. The animation was originally created to accompany a sound effect produced by Daniel Malmedahl whilst attempting to imitate the sound of a two-stroke moped engine.

Description

The Annoying Thing is an anthropomorphic amphibian, who wears only a white motorcycle helmet with the chinstrap unfastened, a leather jacket, and goggles. His toes are webbed, and the iris of one eye is significantly larger than the other. Also present is a set of ambiguous, but controversial, genitalia.

The character imitates the hand movements required to rotate the twistgrip controls of a motorcycle while making the sound of an engine ignition. As the imaginary engine starts, the character begins to levitate as exhaust fumes are discharged from his body. The character then disappears into the distance at high speed.

Origin

In 1997, 17 year old Swede Daniel Malmedahl had a serious interest in imitating the sounds produced by different internal combustion engines. When friends heard Daniel's impressions, they immediately identified the comedic qualities of his talent and posted a recording of Daniel in action to a website. Soon, a researcher for a Swedish television programme found the recording and persuaded Daniel to perform the sound live on their show.

From there, Daniel's recording began appearing on peer to peer file sharing networks and websites under the filename "2TAKTARE.MP3" ("2taktare" being Swedish for "2-stroke").

File:Crazy Frog Insanity Test.png

The Insanity Test animation is responsible for some of the success of Daniel Malmedahl's sound effects.

The sound effect was quickly incorporated into Flash animations that spread virally over the internet. The most notable example was an "Insanity test", which required test subjects to keep a straight face while staring at a picture of a Formula 1 car and listening to the sound effect. Test subjects were informed, "If you start laughing consider yourself legally insane".

An archived version of The Insanity Test can still be viewed at the Internet Archive, here and here (Flash file only).

In 2003, when fellow Swede Erik Wernquist encountered the sound effect, he was inspired to create the 3D animation The Annoying Thing to accompany it using the popular LightWave 3d modelling application. The animation was a popular attraction at Erik's website, but the sound was only credited to Anonymous.

Eventually, word reached Daniel that his sound effect was in use in a well-known animation, he contacted Erik, apparently giving an impromptu performance to confirm his claims. Erik was convinced, and gave due credit to Daniel for his creation.

Ringtone

In 2004, the Germany based Jamba! group (ultimately owned by Verisign) licensed the animation and sound for distribution as a mobile phone ringtone. Jamba!, trading under names such as Jamster!, RingtoneKing, and others, accompanied the release of the ringtone with a barrage of television, internet, radio and print advertising, making it the most recognisable commercially available ringtone in the United Kingdom. Jamba! decided to market the ringtone as The Crazy Frog rather than the existing title.

Jamba! have earned an estimated £14 million from the ringtone (source), making it the most commercially successful ringtone of all time. The frog replaced the rarely seen Rhino and Rat as Jamba!'s mascot. Attempting to repeat the Frog's success, Jamba! commissioned new animated creature ringtones, Sweety the Chick and Nessie the Dragon.

Lyrics

Beh-ding ding ding ding dididing ding bing bing pscht,

Dorhrm bom bom bedom bem bom bedom bom bum ba ba bom bom,

Bouuuuum bom bom bedahm, Bom be barbedarm bedabedabedabeda

Bbrrrrrimm bbrrrrramm bbbrrrrrrrrraammmmm ddddddraammm,

Bah bah baah baah ba wheeeeeee-eeeee-eeeee!

Controversy

Advertising

In February 2005, a number of complaints were submitted to the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority regarding Jamba!'s advertising campaign, complaining that Crazy Frog appeared to have genitalia. Some parents comgshitplained that this made inappropriate viewing for children, claiming that the commercial had prompted embarrassing questions. Complaints were also submitted about the frequency the advert appeared on television, up to twice an hour across most of the day (source), with some channels showing it more than once per commercial break.

The ASA did not uphold the complaints, pointing out that the advert was already classified as inappropriate for airing during children's television programmes as it contained a premium rate telephone number, adding that it was for the broadcaster to decide how often an advert should be shown. However, Jamba! voluntarily censored the character's genital area in later broadcasts of its advertisements. The full adjudication (PDF) is available online.

In April 2005, television viewers complained about misleading adverts produced by Jamba!, trading as Jamster! and RingtoneKing. Viewers were concerned that it was not made sufficiently clear that they were subscribing to a service, rather than paying a one-time fee for their ringtone. The complaints were upheld, the full adjudication (PDF) is available online.

In May 2005, the ASA were inundated with new complaints by viewers regarding the continuous airing of the latest Crazy Frog advertisements. As the authority had already adjudicated on the matter and confirmed the matter was not within its remit, the unusual step was taken of adding a notice to their online and telephone complaints system informing viewers that Jamster!-related complaints should be directed towards the broadcaster or the regulator, Ofcom. (source: [1], [2])

Computer virus

In March 2005, anti-virus vendors discovered the W32/Crog.worm computer virus (a contraction of Crazy Frog), which spreads through file-sharing networks and MSN Messenger, exploiting the Crazy Frog's notoriety with a promise of an animation depicting his demise. (source [3], [4]).

Single releases

Crazy Frog - Axel F

File:Bassbumpers-axelf.jpg

Bass Bumpers: Axel F

File:Axelfrog screenshot.jpg

Erik Wernquist's Axel Frog music video.

Main article: Axel F (Crazy Frog song)

A German dance duo named Bass Bumpers made a dance single starring the Crazy Frog, mixed with Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F". The single was released on May 23, 2005 and reached the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart [5], outselling the nearest contender, Coldplay, by three or four copies to one.

Music video

The Ministry of Sound commissioned Kaktus Film and Erik Wernquist, the original creator of the Crazy Frog, to produce a full-length animated music video to accompany the release of "Axel Frog," featuring the Crazy Frog character. The animation is set in the future and centers on the pursuit of the Crazy Frog by a bounty hunter. The bounty hunter receives notification of a $50,000 reward for the capture of the Crazy Frog, who is only identified as "The most annoying thing in the world," a reference to Wernquist's original name for the creature.

Pondlife - Ring Ding Ding

File:Pondlife-ring-ding-ding.jpg

Pondlife: Ring Ding Ding

On February 17, 2005, a group of producers naming themselves Pondlife announced that the Crazy Frog would be released as a single. The people behind this are radio DJs Wes Butters, Trevor Jordan and Daryl Denham along with studio-owner Maurice Cheetham.

On March 19, 2005, Pondlife held open auditions to find a live action Crazy Frog to star in their accompanying music video. Clips of the live action frog can be found here

The track is called "Ring Ding Ding," and was released on 6 June 2005. It reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart, two weeks after the Axel F version.

Frog Must Die - Kill The Frog

On June 20 2005, a song called "Kill The Frog" by Frog Must Die will be released in the UK.

Some information on this is at the bottom of this page: [6]

Het Feestteam - 50cc

In the winter of 2004, Dutch skihut act Het Feestteam released a single called "50cc" containing the sound. A remix single was released in April 2005.

Quotations

"When we recorded it, we found it very, very funny. We laughed until we got tears." - Daniel Malmedahl, January 2005.
"We appreciate that the frequent broadcast of the same, or similar, commercials can be annoying to some viewers. However, it is for the advertiser and broadcaster to decide how often a particular advertisement is shown." - Advertising Standards Authority, February 2005.
"'Crazy Frog' is what the market persist on calling my character The Annoying Thing. I personally hate that name and deeply regret I didn't put a stop to that early on." - Erik Wernquist, April 2005.