Extra Credit- Fred!
May 7, 2010
The first time I ever saw “Fred” was about a year ago. My younger sister, then only 12, was sitting at my dad’s computer cracking up. I went over to see what was so funny and my sister told me that she was watching Fred. She proceeded to show me “Fred Gets Detention” which at first I didn’t like because Fred’s voice was so high pitched that it hurt my ears. As I kept watching the video though I found myself laughing (especially when he prank called his teacher and then says “how’d she know it was me?!!”). I think that for most adults, Fred’s videos wouldn’t be amusing but I can definitely see how they would be popular with my sister’s age group. When my sister and her friends were watching the videos a year ago, all of them thought Fred’s voice was really that high. Having that misconception probably makes the videos funnier to them. Even today when I called up my sister to tell her that I was writing a blog entry about Fred, she still hadn’t come to the conclusion that his voice was just computer generated – she assumed but wasn’t sure. When I told her that I thought it was funny that Fred’s YouTube page says he’s six, my sister (having not read the page before) finally put it all together and realized that Fred was all a joke. Apparently she had missed the iCarly episode starring Fred where he comes clean about having enhanced his voice.
Speaking of iCarly, the fact that Fred was on Nickelodeon further proves the point that his videos are geared to younger kids. (And as most people know, kids have a very odd sense of humor – at least my sister does).
Another reason why Fred might be so popular is he advertises for himself a lot. He’s on twitter, myspace, Meez, iTunes, and he even has his own store. The creator of Fred, Lucas Cruikshank, even advertises for his character on his own twitter and lets his friends know when he is uploading new videos. After doing my own YouTube video, I know that simply advertising for yourself can bring in a lot of viewers.
