Fail Blog

Fail Blog (stylized as FAIL Blog) is a comedic blog website created in January 2008.[1]

Fail Blog
Type of site
Entertainment
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington
OwnerLiterally Media
URLfailblog.cheezburger.com
Launched3 January 2008
Current statusOnline

FAIL Blog features disastrous mishaps and general stupidity in photos and video which have captions such as "fail", "epic fail", "X Fail", or "X; You're doin' it wrong" (X being the activity at which the subject has failed). There are also multiple sites under the FAIL Blog brand, including Failbook (which features FAILs on Facebook), Ugliest Tattoos, and There, I Fixed It.[2][3][4] The website has also triggered a meme that contains bad grammar (usually posted in the comments of Failblog videos), "Did he died".

History

In January 2008, FAIL Blog was launched. The site grew steadily in popularity; in May 2008, FAIL Blog was sold to Pet Holdings Inc. (now Cheezburger, Inc.), becoming part of the Cheezburger Network.[5] Ben Huh notes that FAIL Blog "really started to take off when the financial industry decided to — ahem — fail."[1] As an example, at a United States Senate hearing in September 2008, a demonstrator held up a sign reading "FAIL" behind Henry Paulson, the former Treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve.[1] By January 2010, FAIL Blog was receiving 1.1 million unique visitors per month.[6]

Reception and influence

FAIL Blog won two Webby Awards in 2009, for People's Voice in Humor and Weird.[7][8] The site has been profiled in multiple publications: The Times named FAIL blog their #3 comedy website, the Los Angeles Times called FAIL Blog, a "fan favorite," Time magazine noted that FAIL Blog has "helped popularize fail as both a noun and an exclamation, not to mention an easier-to-spell synonym for schadenfreude", and The New York Times called it a "runaway hit."[1][9][10] The site is also commonly referenced in popular culture; The Huffington Post called Netflix a "walking failblog" in reference to their July 2011 pricing change and The Atlantic called a Chris Coghlan baseball blunder "a debacle worthy of FAIL Blog."[11][12]

In July 2009, FAIL Blog posted a screenshot of the Guinness record webpage for "Most Individuals Killed in a Terrorist Attack" which was accompanied with a "Break this record" link. Guinness threatened legal action, and the story was picked up by TechCrunch and CNET.[13][14]

See also

References
  1. Zimmer, Ben (Aug 7, 2009). "How Fail Went From Verb to Interjection". The New York Times. Retrieved Sep 9, 2009.
  2. Failbook. Official Website.
  3. There I Fixed It.
  4. Ugliest Tattoos. Official Website.
  5. "I Can Has Internet Millions: The company behind lolcats and Failblog tries to turn memes into money". Slate. Mar 20, 2009. Retrieved Sep 9, 2009.
  6. Raftery, Brian. King of Cheez: The Internet's Meme Maestro Turns Junk Into Gold. Wired. January 25, 2010.
  7. "Fail Blog wins 2009 Webby Award". ChannelAPA.com. Jun 9, 2009. Archived from the original on August 21, 2009. Retrieved Sep 9, 2009.
  8. Orlaff, Brian. Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Fallon Win Big at the Webbys Archived 2011-03-29 at the Wayback Machine. People. May 5, 2009.
  9. Fitzpatrick, Laura. Building a Media Empire Around I Can Has Cheezburger. TIME. August 24, 2009.
  10. Mcedward, Laura. Entrepreneur's Kitty Site Now A Caboodle. Los Angeles Times. September 23, 2008.
  11. Simpson, Jake. Beyond Chris Coghlan: Top 5 Sports Celebration Fails. The Atlantic. July 28, 2010.
  12. Gilbert, Jason. Netflix, Despite The Price Hike And Nightmare PR, Is Still The Best In Field. Huffington Post. July 29, 2011.
  13. "The 404 381: Where we gotta stay positive". CNET News. July 14, 2009. Retrieved Sep 9, 2009.
  14. "Guinness World Records Reaches New Levels Of Fail". TechCrunch. July 13, 2009. Retrieved Sep 9, 2009.
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