The Lowdown
Selling a browser with nostalgia for the pre-algorithm web is clever, and the casting is a pitch-perfect group-chat flashback. Whether it makes anyone switch browsers is another question.
Key Takeaways
- Firefox posted the video on October 25 (USA Today).
- It features 10 early internet celebrities, including Gary Brolsma (Numa Numa Guy), Kyle Craven (Bad Luck Brian), Laina Morris (Overly Attached Girlfriend), Chuck Testa and Noah Ritter (Apparently Kid) (USA Today).
- The ad pitches Firefox as a return to an internet without omnipresent AI and web tracking (USA Today).
The Story
“What happened to the internet? It used to be fun?” Brolsma asks in the opening scene. His 2004 webcam lip-sync to O-Zone’s “Dragostea Din Tei” made him one of the web’s earliest memes (USA Today).
The Verge also highlighted the ad’s cast of early meme stars (The Verge).
Ritter, now 17, went viral at six when he kept saying “apparently” in a local TV interview at Pennsylvania’s Wayne County Fair; the original YouTube video has over 73 million views (USA Today).
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More Context
- USA Today — A new Firefox video reunites all your favorite early internet celebrities ↗
- The Verge — Firefox meme ad ↗