Story highlights
"Mutant Giant Spider Dog" was 2014's top YouTube video
The clip by a Polish actor got more than 113 million views
"First Kiss" and a bendable iPhone also made the top 10
"Walking in NYC" sparked street harassment conversation
Mutant horrors, singers and kissing strangers had a big year on YouTube.
All of the above joined soccer stars, a bending iPhone, a beer commercial and a dose of street activism on the video site’s list of the most popular posts of 2014.
S.A. Wardega, a Polish actor, director and Web prankster, scored the top spot with “Mutant Giant Spider Dog,” which had scared up more than 113 million views since he posted it in September.
In it, Wardega films people in everyday situations into which he unleashes his otherwise cute dog, Chica, wearing a costume that gives the pooch eight giant, creepy spider legs.
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It wasn’t without a dose of controversy.
“Someone reported a SpiderDog video to the prosecution claiming that threatening (sic) endangered the life of the people who were there,” Wardega, whose first name is Sylwester, wrote in September on his Facebook page. “I wonder who will go to jail? Me or Chica? Or maybe a spider costume?”
Taking the No. 3 spot, behind a Nike ad featuring soccer stars like Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, was “First Kiss,” a social experiment of sorts in which complete strangers are brought together and asked to kiss each other.
Except, this one wasn’t exactly as it first appeared. It was commissioned by Wren Studio, a small clothing company, to showcase a new clothing line. Almost all of those awkward strangers were, in fact, models.
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“In all fairness, the people in the video could still be classified as ‘strangers’ by definition, but that’s like calling a kid who plays Call of Duty for 12 hours a day ‘an amateur’,” read a Complex article titled “That Adorable ‘First Kiss’ Video That Everyone Is Talking About Is a Fake.”