Internet Milking Craze Goes Viral, New Planking (VIDEO)
First it was "planking" and then it was "owling." There may have been a long list after that, but now the newest craze to hit the Internet is "milking."
The first image that might come to mind when one thinks of milking is the act of milking a cow. But that isn't exactly what the new Internet craze refers to. Instead, the YouTube trend is to pour gallons of milk over ones head.
The trend is believed to have been started by a group of students and graduates from New Castle. The video shows different men pouring milk over their heads in various scenarios, which include outside of homes and in the middle of the street. So far the 2:45 video has gotten over 200,000 hits, even though it has been up for less than a week.
Other U.K. universities have also caught on to the trend, including one video made by a student from the prestigious Oxford. The student who began the trend said that the stunt was created in good fun and he did not expect for it to go viral.
"We were just in our kitchen talking about doing it outside Starbucks in Jesmond and thought it would be really funny," Tom Morris, the 22-year-old behind the video, told the Daily Mail. "We did that, uploaded the video to Facebook and got a load of likes. So then we thought 'why not just make a video?'"
But the video was more popular than any of the boys might have imagined.
"We didn't expect a reaction this large, the video was initially intended for our friends," George Hoyland, a second man involved in the stunt, told Daily Mail.
But others have criticized the video, including Local Liberal Democrat councilor Gregg Stone.
"Not sure Jesmond students are helping their public image with milking stunt," he wrote in a tweet.
Hoyland responded by stating that their intent was not to create animosity.
"We didn't think the video would stretch much further than our friends and would be disappointed if it created any animosity between students and residents," he said.