To protest, to celebrate, as a tribute, as a sign of support… in recent years the “flashmob” format has become trendy and is used to carry out collective actions that pursue a common goal.
What is a flashmob?
As the word itself indicates, it is an organized, collective action that takes place in a public space for a short period of time.
The call to action is usually made through social media or digital platforms. These communications typically start with a message where someone shares the date and time the action will take place. The content might be revealed just a few minutes before at the chosen location or at a nearby spot, if people have been asked to meet there to arrive as a group. However, there have also been cases where participants knew the content beforehand and had time to prepare for it.
Origin of the flashmob
According to researchers, the flashmob phenomenon began with the publication of the book “The Next Social Revolution” by Howard Rheingold in 2002. In this book, the author predicted that people would use communication technologies for self-organization. That idea led Rob Zazueta, from San Francisco, to create the website Flocksmart.com, where meetings for those known as “mobbers” began to be planned. The first flashmob emerged from these meetings, though it wasn’t very successful. It took place in Manhattan on June 3, 2003. It was organized by Bill Wasik, editor of Harper’s Magazine, and turned out to be a failure because someone leaked information about what was going to happen before it took place.
Shortly after, on June 17, 2003, New York was the stage for the first flashmob that was actually carried out. Wasik organized it again. To avoid the problems of the first attempt, the organizer met with participants in four nearby areas just minutes before the start. There, he informed them about what they were going to do. This action involved one hundred people who went up to the ninth floor of a department store, where they sat around what they called “The Love Rug.”
Types of flashmobs
Nowadays, due to the widespread use of this technique, different terms exist to designate various actions. The most frequent ones are: smartmobs, absurdmobs, freezemobs, kissmobs, the dance flashmob, and fake flashmobs.
For example, smartmobs are those with a social or political goal. Examples of this were the Arab Spring movements or the 15-M movement.
Absurdmobs are categorized as actions that aim to disrupt the social order with absurd gestures performed collectively. The first one took place in Barcelona in 2006 and consisted of a group of 25 people kicking cans of a well-known soda in Plaza del Borne. Freezemobs are actions where participants remain frozen for a few seconds, as if they were statues. And, as you might guess, kissmobs are activities where people instantly kiss each other.
The dance flashmob is one of the most popular interventions. In this type, when the music starts, everyone dances a previously agreed-upon choreography. One of the most popular ones took place in April 2010 as a tribute to Michael Jackson. And it wasn’t the only one, as a similar one had already been performed a year earlier in the Philippines.
Finally, fake flashmobs are those performed for promotional actions. In other words, dancers and artists simulate a traditional flashmob while including products from the organizing brand. Among the advertising campaigns carried out using this technique are those by

Ikea in Madrid to announce its new catalog or the one by KLM at the Malaga airport, which featured members of the Paco Rabanne Dance Company.
Flashmob for fundraising
Furthermore, the flashmob has been used to raise funds. The most recent one happened in Spain, where the Hospital de la Paz in Madrid won the 2013 Pink Glove Dance contest. To do this, the organizers mobilized workers, friends, and supporters who performed a musical piece using pink balloons and gloves to raise awareness about breast cancer. Their more than thirteen million views led them to win first prize in the European version of the event, which had been launched by Medline Hospital in the United States. These funds will finance research on this type of cancer.
Lastly, we leave you with a beautiful Flashmob by Carne Cruda 2.0 in an unemployment office—a nice way to face a harsh reality.
