Flash mobs are a great way to spread awareness about an important issue.
And that’s what the 1,400 students of Sint-Joris College in Eindhoven, Netherlands did in 2011. They wanted to raise funds for Kenya and they used flashmobs to set things in motion.
This isn’t the first time flash mobs have been organized to raise awareness about an important issue. The flash mobs started in 2003 as a social experiment to highlight the culture of conformity. But flash mobs have evolved into something much more than just an experiment.
Claire’s Place Foundation helps people affected by cystic fibrosis and they organized their first flash mob event on May 2011.
They danced to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” at Santa Monica Plaza and it worked! It got the attention of different celebrities including Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz, actor Michael J. Fox, Castle stars Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Kaitlin Olson, among others.
In July, Everyday Health hosts Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca teamed up with them to organize an even bigger event with even more supporters.
Flash mobs also inspire individuals to take action.
Dance teacher Rene Martin posted on social media that she was looking for participants for a flash mob she was organizing. Her daughter was diagnosed with uveitis, and she wanted to raise awareness about the condition.
To show her daughter about the power of community, she enlisted the help of her social media friends to dance with her or to donate to the Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation (OIUF) to help find a cure.
In March 2011, Rene, her daughter, and her friends danced at Faneuil Hall in Boston to the Black Eyed Peas hit “Imma Be.” They managed to raise $1,872 offline and more than $10,000 in donations online.
Even corporations used flash mobs to raise awareness about their own campaigns.
Bremer Bank in Minnesota organized a flash mob at St. Paul’s Farmer’s Market in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hundreds of dancers performed to Glee’s “Halo”/“Walking on Sunshine” mash-up to spread the word about their annual “Taking Action to End Hunger” campaign.
They uploaded the video on YouTube and said that they will donate $1 to Feed America and local food banks for 10,000 views. There were other people who donated through the bank’s website and they were able to raise $84,000.
Another group also organized a flash mob to help out a country.
Flash Mob America, a full-service flash mob production company, performed Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles to raise funds for Haiti’s earthquake relief fund. They performed to a medley of Michael Jackson’s songs, “This Is It”, “Bad”, and “They Don’t Really Care About Us.” They raised more than $3,000 for the relief fund.
The students at Sint-Joris College and volunteers worked hard to create this flash mob and make it work.
They practiced for weeks to get the choreography down. And when the day came, they trooped to the Piazza Center in Eindhoven.
They decided to use the FIFA World Cup 2010 theme song, “Waka Waka (Time For Africa),” to dance to for the flash mob. They wanted to set the record for the biggest flash mob in the Netherlands and they were going to do it to benefit people who need help.
And, with more than 24 million views on YouTube, they’ve certainly raised the awareness they need for Kenya.
Watch the biggest flash mob in Holland with the video below.
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