JibJab
| File:JibJab Logo - Wikipedia.png | |
Main Page as of 8 November 2011 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | Humor |
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Key people | Evan Spiridellis, Founder Gregg Spridellis, Founder & CEO |
| Employees | 35 |
| URL | JibJab.com |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 1999 |
| Current status | Active |
JibJab is a digital entertainment studio based in Venice, California. Founded in 1999 by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, it was noticed during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land is Your Land" became a hit. The company creates, produces and distributes original content. It has three main sections on the website - 1.) eCards 2.) 'Everyday Fun Sendables' such as funny videos and 3.) Originals including "This Land", "Time for Some Campaign'," "Big Box Mart" and more.
Before all this happened, JibJab produced commercials and shorts for clients like Sony, Noggin, and Disney.
Election 2004
"This Land"
For the 2004 presidential election, JibJab created a Flash movie entitled This Land, which featured George W. Bush and John Kerry singing a parody of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land."
This animation was an instant success, and the site was listed number one on Alexa's "Movers and Shakers" list. The video was so popular, it was viewed on every continent (including Antarctica) as well as the International Space Station.[1] The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on AtomFilms, where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.[2]
After being linked to on thousands of websites, the song was featured several times in the printed media and on television, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News and ABC World News Tonight. On July 26, 2004, the creators appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In December 2004 the brothers were named People of the Year by Peter Jennings.[3]
The Richmond Organization, a music publisher that owns the copyright to Guthrie's tune through its Ludlow Music Unit, threatened legal action.[4] JibJab responded with a lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming the song was protected under a fair use exemption for parodies. JibJab and Ludlow Music reached a settlement after JibJab's attorneys unearthed evidence that the song had passed into the public domain in 1973. The terms of the settlement allowed for the continued distribution of This Land.[5] Jim Meskimen voiced almost all the characters.
E-Cards
In 2007, JibJab made an option to put photographs of people's faces in some animated JibJab videos, and the option to send them to other people as e-cards or "sendables".[6] This option is included in a video site "Elf Yourself" by OfficeMax,[7] where an uploaded photo is put onto a singing/dancing elf. JibJab has let people "star" in many movies, such as renditions of Star Wars in honor of the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back[8] and Mad Men.[9]
Year in Review
JibJab is arguably most famous for its "Year in Review" videos, which are usually released late in December.
"2-0-5" - 2005 Year In Review
2-0-5 is the year in review video for the year 2005, it reflects the songs Auld Lang Syne and Turkey in the Straw. 2-0-5 is sung in the perspective of George W. Bush and reflecting on the years downpoints such as Avian Flu, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, piracy in Somalia, stem cells, Scooter Libby, Tom DeLay, and his own steadily dropping approval rating.
Nuckin' Futs! - The JibJab Year In Review 2006
This Year in Review portrays a Christmas concert with the kids singing about the past year. Topics include Iraq, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Britney Spears, the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein, the Dick Cheney hunting incident, 2006 Thai coup d'état, Mel Gibson's DUI incident, Fidel Castro's health crisis, Ariel Sharon's stroke, Google buying YouTube, Paris Hilton, Kim Jong-il, Kenneth Lay, Escherichia coli in food, Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran's nuclear program. It is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells, and states at the end that the way that things are going, armageddon won't be long.
In 2007
The tune "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel was used in this Year in Review. The theme is the 2007 Annual Humanity Report arriving and a group of angels do not want to anger God so they "sugar coat" it in a song. Topics such as global warming, Lindsay Lohan's cocaine bust, Alberto Gonzales, the war in Darfur, the Don Imus Rutgers University women's basketball team controversy, Blackwater USA, the Airbus A380, Facebook, the Wii, the Malibu forest fires, the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and the iPhone were used in this Year in Review.
The JibJab Year In Review 2008
In this Year in Review Baby New Year is seen singing about the past years events to the next Baby New Year for 2009, telling him the year was bad. The song used in this is "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat". Some topics in this videos were the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the liquidity crisis of the American International Group, the Big Three (automobile manufacturers), David Duchovny going to rehab, Daniel Radcliffe performing in Equus, Miley Cyrus, Sarah Palin, the 2008 South Ossetia war, the United States presidential election, 2008, and Hurricane Ike. In the end of the video, the future Baby New Year leaves, making Baby New Year '08 stay to chronicle another year.
Never A Year Like 09
Sung to the tune of "The Entertainer", it chronicles the year's past events. Barack Obama, Afghan presidential election, 2009, 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, the Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy, the resignation of Sarah Palin, swine flu, the "Miracle on the Hudson" water landing of US Airways Flight 1549, Octomom, the divorce of Jon and Kate Gosselin, Brett Favre, Joe Wilson yelling "You Lie!" during the Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, September 2009, Balloon Boy, Carrie Prejean, Sonia Sotomayor, the Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Michael Jackson's death, along with other celebrity deaths such as Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, and Ted Kennedy, and Tiger Woods are such topics. The animation style is notably different from past years.
So Long To Ya, 2010
The 2010 Year in Review aired on December 19, 2010 on CBS News Sunday Morning. It featured puppets of Obama and Biden singing about what happened in the year 2010; the song was set to the tune of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze".[10] The review focused mainly on Barack Obama, as well on other political events such as the Tea Party movement, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, in Iceland, the Greece's Debt Crisis, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Mosque at Ground Zero, WikiLeaks, the campaign finance reform in the United States, Charles B. Rangel, Stanley A. McChrystal, Hamid Karzai, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, and the United States elections, 2010. This video ends with a basketball being thrown at President Obama, knocking him through the first "0" of "2010" and Biden stating that it will need stitches.
2011, Buh-Bye!
On December 20, 2011 the 2011 Year in Review, titled "2011, Buh-Bye!" was released, and is available on YouTube and their website.[11] Sung to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", it covered several events. These included the introduction of Ben & Jerry's new (yet controversial) ice cream flavor, Schweddy Balls; Charlie Sheen's breakdown; theft claims by Lindsay Lohan; charges of sexual assaults against Dominique Strauss-Kahn; the 2012 presidential campaigns with the 9-9-9 plan; Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child scandal; Standard & Poor lowering the United States score for the first time; the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal; the United States debt-ceiling crisis; the Arab Spring (particular emphasis on the 2011 Egyptian revolution and the 2011 Libyan civil war; the removal of Don't ask, don't tell; the claims of homosexuality in Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie; the death of Osama bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi; the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan; the 2011 England riots; the 2011 end times prediction by Harold Camping; the widespread 2012 phenomenon; the short-lived marriage by Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries; the de facto bankruptcy of Borders Group and Netflix; Justin Bieber's new hairstyle; "Friday" by Rebecca Black; the Royal Wedding; the Occupy Wall Street movement; the deaths of Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Taylor, Randy Savage and Amy Winehouse; the Casey Anthony trial; and the trial and conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray were such topics.
Logo
The logo of JibJab depicts two men from the Victorian era, which was temporarily changed in So Long To Ya, 2010 to puppets and 2011, Buh-Bye to popsicle stick figures.
JibJab Jr.
In August 2011, JibJab entered the kids market with JibJab Jr. - a line of children's books for the iPad. The app allows parents to personalize the stories with a photo & name of their child.[12]
References
- ^ ABC News (December 31, 2004)
- ^ USA Today (July 24, 2004)
- ^ ABC News (December 31, 2004)
- ^ Wired News (August 8, 2004)[1] CNN Money (July 26, 2004) [2]
- ^ CNET News.com (August 25, 2004)
- ^ Mashable (August 9, 2007)
- ^ MarketingProfs (December 11, 2007)
- ^ The Washington Post (May 5, 2010)
- ^ The Hollywood Reporter (July 6, 2010)
- ^ "So Long To Ya, 2010". JibJab.com. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
- ^ http://blog.jibjab.com/2011/12/12/year-in-review-vocals-recorded/
- ^ USA Today (August 31, 2011)