Mister Splashy Pants Explained

Mister Splashy Pants
Species:Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Gender:Male
Birth Date:Before 2007
Known:Tracking by Greenpeace and naming by Reddit users
Residence:Southern Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, south of New Zealand

Mister Splashy Pants, or Mr Splashypants, is a humpback whale in the South Pacific Ocean. It is being tracked with a satellite tag by Greenpeace as a part of its Great Whale Trail Expedition,[1] which was working to raise awareness about whales threatened by the Japanese Fisheries Agency's hunting of 50 humpback whales annually. The whale's name was chosen in an online poll that garnered attention from several websites, including Boing Boing[2] and Reddit,[3] quickly becoming an internet meme. Mister Splashy Pants became the subject of a TED Talk[4] by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, titled "How to make a splash in social media."

History

Greenpeace humpback whale naming poll, 2007
Location:Online
Date:November–December 2007
Choice1:Mister Splashy Pants
Percentage1:79.58
Choice1 Color:green
Choice2:Humphrey
Percentage2:2.87
Choice2 Color:red
Choice3:Others
Percentage3:17.55
Choice3 Color:grey
Website:greenpeace.org
Notes:Assuming 150,000 votes total

Originally, Greenpeace had accepted 30 names for voting. Among the more unusual names was what was possibly intended as a joke, "Mr. Splashy Pants". On 26 November 2007, the user of an IP address in Arizona, United States found that disabling cookies removed any voting limits, and the user began voting at 120 votes per minute for 38 minutes without pause.[5]

The massive leap in votes for the name attracted the attention of b3ta.com,[6] 4chan's /b/ board, BoingBoing, reddit, Digg, and numerous blogs. Though Greenpeace removed the extra votes from the results, users from the social networking sites flocked to vote for the name, and the percentage moved quickly from 5 percent to 75 percent in less than a day. In response to the spike, Greenpeace decided to hold the competition open for an extra week, until 7 December. Reddit took the voting so seriously that they temporarily changed their logo to feature Mr. Splashy Pants.[7] Facebook also began garnering interest, and a Facebook application was created with the tagline "Vote your conscience, vote Splashy Pants." On the 30th, Fark posted a thread linking to the voting as well, and for a few days internet traffic on the Greenpeace server spiked to almost untenable levels.

There was some controversy over the naming, with TreeHugger[8] and an associated blog[9] initially claiming that the name was not beautiful enough, and seeking to instigate votes for the other names. According to Greenpeace insider Brian Fitzgerald, the name also was controversial within the organisation.[10]

On 10 December 2007, Mister Splashy Pants was announced as the winner of the competition. 150,000 people reportedly voted, and 'Splashy' received 119,367, over 78 percent of the votes. The nearest rival was Humphrey at 4,329 votes, or less than 3 percent. The other top ten names, like Aiko, Libertad, Mira, Kaimana, Aurora, Shanti, Amal and Manami, received less than 1 percent each.[11] Reddit alone was responsible for 20,322 of the votes.[12]

Outcome

After their initial reluctance, Greenpeace embraced the result of the popular vote and used the name at the center of its campaign. The added publicity, at no cost to Greenpeace, gave it enough impact to convince the Japanese government, and the plan to hunt humpback whales was abandoned in December 2007.[13]

In Campaign Magazine, advertising figure Russell Davies praised Greenpeace's handling of the campaign as "one of the defining moments in New Media marketing."[14] The name has since spawned clothing, logos, Flash videos, and the slogan "Save Mister Splashy Pants."

Pop-culture references

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Whale name makes a big splash . 10 December 2007 . Timothy Marshall . . 29 November 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20071201180820/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/29/2104802.htm . 1 December 2007 . dmy-all .
  2. Web site: Mr Splashy Pants in the lead for Greenpeace whale-naming competition. 23 December 2007. Cory Doctorow. 26 November 2007. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20071227224945/http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/26/mr-splashy-pants-in.html. 27 December 2007. dmy-all.
  3. Web site: Mr. Splashy Pants and the Tale of a Hijacked PR Campaign . 10 December 2007 . Kristen Nicole . . 12 December 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080117165940/http://mashable.com/2007/12/12/mr-splashy-pants-greenpeace/ . 17 January 2008 . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media. 12 November 2012. TEDIndia. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20121114062622/http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media.html. 14 November 2012. dmy-all.
  5. Web site: Mister Splashy Pants Fan. 27 November 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20120207102343/http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2007/11/mr_splashy_pants_fan.html. 7 February 2012. 3 September 2015. dead.
  6. Web site: Greenpeace want to name a whale. 23 December 2007. b3ta.com. 26 November 2007. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20071230165818/http://www.b3ta.com/links/138328. 30 December 2007. dmy-all.
  7. Web site: Mister Splashy Pants - Part 2. 23 December 2007. Moneyries. 27 November 2007. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708053514/http://moneyries.blogspot.com/2007/11/mister-splashy-pants-part-2.html. 8 July 2011. dmy-all.
  8. Web site: Name That Whale. Quickly! . 23 December 2007 . Bonnie Alter . 5 December 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20071222050929/http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/name_that_whale.php . 22 December 2007 . dmy-all .
  9. Web site: 'Mister Splashy Pants' emerges as clear favourite in Greenpeace whale-naming competition . 23 December 2007 . AbiSylvester . 5 December 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071201110428/http://www.hippyshopper.com/2007/11/mister_splashyp.html . 1 December 2007 . dmy-all .
  10. Web site: What nearly killed Mister Splashy Pants. 3 December 2007. Brian Fitzgerald. 3 December 2007. 15 December 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071215160431/http://blog.brian-fitzgerald.net/?p=264. live.
  11. Web site: Mister Splashy Pants the whale - you named him, now save him . 10 December 2007 . 10 December 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20071211140620/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/splashy-101207 . 11 December 2007 . dmy-all .
  12. Web site: Mister Splashy Pants. Precisely who is responsible for this nonsense?. 23 December 2007. Brianfit. 14 December 2007. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20131203013755/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/mister-splashy-pants-precisely-who-is-respons/blog/9861/. 3 December 2013. dmy-all.
  13. Greenpeace.org: Humpbacks to be spared the harpoon -- for now
  14. Web site: Media Perspective: Make sure you know your audience - and what you stand for.. 28 November 2008. Russel Davies. 28 November 2008. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081215054505/http://www.brandrepublic.com/InDepth/Analysis/866012/Media-Perspective-sure-know-audience---stand/. 15 December 2008. dmy-all.
  15. Web site: Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140221033217/http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media.html . 21 February 2014 . dmy-all .
  16. Web site: Jenni Barrett:For the whales . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20131224110703/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/jenni-barrett-for-the-whales/blog/47654/ . 24 December 2013 . dmy-all .

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