Furry and Famous

Although millions of people are familiar with at least a number of animal internet sensations such as Grumpy Cat, Loki the Wolfdog or Juniper the Fox, it remains baffling exactly how popular this content has become. The most popular ‘pet influencers’ have amassed several millions of followers and continue to grow. Big brands have recently joined the party upon realising that balls of furry joy make us just that tad more likely to spend our money. But where does this all come from? Is there more to this world of miserable cats and stylish dogs than meets the eye?

It is difficult to define who the first true animal internet stars are. Home videos of animals exhibiting comical behaviour or doing tricks are definitely one of the earliest formats of critter content on the internet. Before the rise of online video sharing platforms, this kind of media was already popular on mainstream television shows such as ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’, ‘You’ve Been Framed’ and animal-specific video clip shows like ‘Animals Do The Funniest Things’. When Youtube grew in popularity, the transition to this new platform was logical. As opposed to with clip shows, home videos uploaded to Youtube were guaranteed a platform. Although videos did not quite go ‘viral’ in Youtube’s early days, the platform had two features which television didnot have, namely the possibilities to replay and to share videos. Like so, the foundations for today’s viral videos were laid. Some of the earliest famous animal videos, in fact, did originate on home video clip shows, with a notable example being ‘Oh Long Johnson’. The video features a long-haired black and white cat, growling at an opponent. Its sounds resemble English gibberish and in some versions are clarified in subtitles, with ‘Oh Long Johnson’ as the most notable line and origin for thetitle.

Thestars of such videos, however, often remained nameless. Either their names were only revealed years later or not at all, as is the case with the Long Johnson cat. Among those who did become famous by their name, many belong to Youtubers who feature them in their content. One early example would be Jenna Marbles, whose channel name is partially derived from her chihuahua’s name, Mr Marbles. He has been featured on her channel since the very beginning in 2010 and overtime has amassed a following of his own, along with Jenna's three other dogs. They have their own merchandise including dog-safe stuffed animals and T-shirts. Numerous others have featured their pets in merchandise, with many even designing special or limited edition merch to raise money for animal welfare charities.

Social media celebrities’ pets, however, are not the only furry social media stars these days. Many Youtube channels and social media accounts are, in fact, dedicated to animals, with their owners staying out of the limelight as theytake on the roles of director, camera person and manager, only revealing small sections of themselves when interacting with their pets. If they do not have an already famous owner to give them a little boost, how do these animal superstars gain such a following? The key lies in uniqueness. Any special quality, when played right, can attract attention. Unusual pets such as raccoons and foxes are good candidates. Sometimes, a unique appearance will attract attention, as happened in the case of Tardar Sauce, aka ‘Grumpy Cat’. Due to feline dwarfism and a severe underbite, her flat face bore a permanent scowl. She took the internet by storm when she caught on as a meme, with pictures of her often featuring cynical texts such as ‘‘I had fun once. It was awful.’’

Briefly returning to ‘Oh Long Johnson’, the trend of animals exhibiting specific funny or cute behaviours has continued to grow. The standards continue to rise, as more and more ‘special talents’ are discovered. Animals who can ‘paint’ or ‘play’ and instrument are a common occurrence these days. A rather remarkable example is ‘Nora the Cat’, who plays the piano on her own accord, seemingly for her own enjoyment. Her owner is a music teacher and Nora shows a preference for joining the students in a duet when they practice Bach. The sounds she creates can hardly be classed as music, but seeing a cat purposefully push down keys and showing preferences for certain notes is fascinating nonetheless, to scientists and the regular viewer.

What is perhaps the most niche genre of content, however, is animal ASMR. ASMR in itself is already an incredible niche genre of Youtube videos. The acronym was coined on an online forum by a user named Jennifer Allen and stands for ‘autonomous sensory meridian response’, but isby no means scientific, as it has only recently become the subject of research. ASMR is a sensation somewhat akin to mirror-touch and auditorytactile synaesthesia. Not every individual can experience this, but those who do explain it as a tingling sensation on the scalp which travels down to the spine, like being touched without any actual physical presence. This pleasant feeling occurs when coming into contact with certain so-called triggers, of which there are perhaps as many as there are individuals who experience ASMR. Youtube videos are created featuring such triggers, examples of which are whispering and ear-to-ear repetitive sounds such as tapping objects with one’s nails, someone performing their daily skincare routine and point of view roleplays in which the viewer undergoes various procedures such as medical examinations, massages or makeovers. One of the latest and perhaps most bizarre trends in ASMR is eating sounds. Whilst many find them absolutely revolting, a whole community has been established around the sounds of people crunching, smacking and slurping down various types of food. This trend has carried over to animal creators, who are perhaps more palatable.

One particularly popular format in this community is the ‘doggo taste test’, with Samoyed Maya Polar Bear being the top dog of this genre. The premise is simple; a dog is filmed being fed different pieces of food such as meat or vegetables. A hi-fi microphone captures the sounds which appeal to ASMR fans, but the videos are equally popular due to the comedic captions added to the videos. The captions are written in ‘meme speak’ including words such as ‘monch’ and ‘hecc’ and are a supposed monologue by the dog, who then rates each piece of food at the end. Maya Polar Bear has amassed an immense following in this genre. Her Youtube channel alone has 1.53 million subscribers and her videos average between several hundred thousand and several million views.

These numbers are not unusual for such animal superstars. Grumpy Cat's most-followed account is her Facebook page, which has 8.5 million followers. Maymo the beagle, the Guinness World Record holder for most views of Youtube videos featuring animals had a total of just under 700 million views at the time the record was confirmed. What is it that reels in these absurd numbers? The answer is mostly straight-forward: we adore animals. Pets raise our endorphins and make us feel warm and fuzzy inside, regardless of whether we watch them on our screen or have them nestled in our arms. As we forget about the human presence behind their social media accounts and view them as true personalities, we deem them

These characteristics, of course, make them extremely attractive as brand influencers. By associating products with the happy feelings generated by cute animals, brands make their products more appealing. Higher engagement rates also mean a further reach as audiences are more likely to tag friends or share content on their profiles. This creates two-way growth for both the brand and for the influencer, as each respective audience is prompted to engage with the other’s audience. Of course, the influencer also gets paid for such content. On average, pet influencers make around £800 per 100.000 followers per post, so it is clear that the owners are often not just in it for the fun of things. Veritable pet influencer agencies have cropped up during the past few years and they receive hundreds of applications daily from hopeful owners who are desperate to land their pet a spot in the limelight.

Thankfully, this is not as dark and exploitative as it sounds. Leading agencies have clear statements on animal welfare and owners generally appear to be very attentive to their pets’ needs. An unhappy pet is ultimately not as appealing to an audience. One major negative outcome is the rise in desire for ‘designer breeds’, many of which have severe health issues and end up in shelters when their owners realise the amount of money and time that goes into pet care. On the other hand, however, the ‘adopt, don’t shop’ movement has also gained more attention through pet influencers who were featured as figureheads and advocates for shelters and rescue centres. Moreover, advocates for disabled pets such as Grumpy Cat and Lil’ Bub have drastically increased awareness of animal disabilities by showing their audiences that they too are just as worthy of love and care as any other pet. The outcomes of this trend are far from all bad.

Ultimately, it also comes down to the consumer to make sensible decisions and educate themselves before making any kind of commitments to pets. It is also always worth having a closer look at the past conduct of pet owners before following their social media accounts. The world of animal internet stars isimmense and filled with all kinds of critters living their best lives, but it is always worth doing a small background check on creators’ past content and to keep one’s eyes out for any red flags. Finally, of course, the most important thing is to check on ourselves: Is this the right moment for cat videos, or are we procrastinating again?

Composed by,

Loki Anne Thompson, Undergraduate of Film & Visual Culture and History of Art