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"If we've learned anything about viral advertising in 2011, it's this \u2014 you can't touch The Force. Also, people will always love crazy stunts and action-packed destruction \u2014 especially if there are Angry Birds thrown into the mix.\nPop culture references, especially when Internet-related, also seemed to do really well this year. From the Royal Wedding to LMFAO, using someone or something that has a strong following always helps in achieving viral reach. And if that doesn't work, consider a male stripper or a monkey with an AK-47.\nWe also learned that people like to be tricked. The more realistic your stunt is, the better. There are a couple videos that made the list this year that make you question whether the ad was staged or real, which always leads to sharing.\nIf nothing else, there are a few touching videos that will leave you affected. From cute children talking about their relationship to the more serious topic of cancer, this list just goes to show that emotive videos can still cut through all the noise on the web. \nSpecial thanks to our friends at Unruly for compiling this list.\nNote: The list below does not include music videos, user-generated content or movie trailers. Unruly\u2019s Viral Video Chart tracks 18 million shares a day through third-party APIs.\n\n\nYouTube's Most-Shared Ads of 2011\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. \"The Force: Volkswagen Commercial\" (Volkswagen)\n\nShares: 4,713,179\nThis Super Bowl ad for the 2012 Passat features a \"pint-sized Darth Vader\" who discovers the Force in his driveway. It's incredibly cute and humorous, and was obviously well-executed because it holds the highest number of shares this year.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. \"Ken Block's Gymkhana Four; The Hollywood Megamercial\" (DC Shoes)\n\nShares: 2,028,238\nThis lengthy, action-packed \"Megamercial\" is presented by Ken Block and DC Shoes. Directed by Ben Conrad, of Zombieland fame, it is chock full of zombies, firey stunts, robotic sharks and Epic Meal Time. This combination resulted in huge success for the video.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. \"Angry Birds Live\" (T-Mobile) \n\nShares: 1,783,607\nWhat's better than using your smartphone to launch birds from a slingshot and cause mass destruction? Doing it in real life. This real-life demonstration of the addicting game Angry Birds had the same \"stop and stare\" effect on the Internet as it does in the commercial itself.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. \"Royal Wedding\" (T-Mobile)\n\nShares: 1,733,419\nTaking cue from this infamous wedding dance , this T-Mobile commercial in honor of the Royal Wedding combines Internet culture with pop culture. The resulting shares were astounding.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. \"Party Rock Anthem-Kia Soul Hamster Commercial\" (Kia)\n\nShares: 1,424,110\nTake an LMFAO track (one of the hottest songs of the year), a couple of video game-esque robots and add cute hamster shuffling. The Kia Soul's hamsters have been well-received since they first appeared in the company's advertisements, and this year proved to be no different.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. \"Ape With AK-47\" (20th Century Fox)\n\nShares: 1,132,201\nTo promote the Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie, 20th Century Fox came out with this ad where soldiers give a monkey a loaded gun. It was shot like a home video, making some wonder if it's real or fake.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. \"Dear 16 Year Old\" (David Cornfield Melanoma Fund)\n\nShares: 1,072,004\nThis moving video captures real people of various ages, genders and ethnicity speaking to their former 16 year-old selves, before they were diagnosed with melanoma. It's incredibly heartfelt and gives a very realistic depiction of what someone diagnosed with cancer, or those who lost someone diagnosed, wish they would have known earlier.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. \"Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Reveal Trailer\" (Activision)\n\nShares: 1,072,004\nThis video game trailer just goes to show how popular the Modern Warfare series has become. The ad is your standard combat game commercial, however we're guessing it was the purely the hype of the game itself that drove this video to be shared so highly.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. \"Poneis Malditos\" (Nissan)\n\nShares: 956,661\nThis is a subtitled version of the Brazillian ad for Nissan's Frontier, featuring damned ponies that will leave you stuck in the mud. The ad ends with a threatening evil pony promising a curse if you don't share with ten friends. We're guessing the warning worked, judging by its viral success.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n10. \"Contrex - Ma Contrexperience - 97s\" (Nestle)\n\nShares: 950,988\nThis humorous ad for Nestle's Contrex mineral water features a row of exercise bikes connected to power a 3D projection map. As the crowd continues biking, they discover they're encouraging a male stripper to go all the way. Or maybe not.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n11. \"Official Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - The Vet Vs The Noob\" (Activision)\n\nShares: 922,218\nThe official trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, featuring Sam Worthington, Jonah Hill and Dwight Howard, shows Hill's quick progression from n00b to pro. The third installment of the Modern Warfare series proclaims: \"There's a soldier in all of us.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n12. \"Carlsberg Stunt with Bikers in Cinema\" (Carlsburg)\n\nShares: 899,550\nSome innocent couples are left with only two seats in a Belgium movie theater, which is filled with 148 unfriendly-looking bikers. The stunt left some exiting the theater, but the ones who braved the sea of scary men end up with a big surprise.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n13. \"Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial\" (Ojai Valley Taxidermy)\n\nShares: 830,036\nYouTube celebs Rhett and Link created this taxidermist's commercial as part of their TV show Commercial Kings, which quickly became a phenomenal Internet meme sensation. Whether you thought that coyote or pheasant was alive, try not to yell \"NOPE,\" at least once during this creative ad.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n14. \"The Art of FLIGHT - Snowboarding film trailer featuring Travis Rice\" (Red Bull)\n\nShares: 810,453\nThis snowboarding film trailer The Art of FLIGHT takes snowboarding to a whole new level. The video -- sponsored by Red Bull -- has snowboarder Travis Rice and more as they literally soar off mountains and land tricks that will leave you cringing.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n15. McDonald\u2019s Philippines New Commercial 2011 \"BFGF\" (McDonald's)\n\nShares: 756,141\nThis adorable McDonald's commercial, featuring two young children discussing their relationship status, was most shared in the Phillipines, but this comparison to the commercial in India includes English subtitles and it's equally cute.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n16. \"Danny MacAskill - Industrial Revolutions\" ( Channel 4)\n\nShares: 696,190\nBiker Danny Macaskill takes to an old industrial train yard and abandoned buildings in Scotland in Industrial Revolutions, part of Channel 4's documentary, Concrete Circus.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n17. \"The most amazing beat box video ever!!! 4 minutes hip hop history by Eklips for Trace\" (Trace Urban)\n\nShares: 687,528\nFrench beat box EKLIPS can make noises that couldn't possibly be human -- but remarkably, they are. In this video for Trace Urban, he performs through four minutes of hip hop history.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n18. \"Unbelievable David Beckham\" (Pepsi)\n\nShares: 543,812\nSoccer star David Beckham makes kicking a ball across an entire beach into not one, but three trash cans look easy. He hardly breaks a sweat in this ad for Pepsi.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n19. \"Unleash Your Fingers\" (Samsung)\n\nShares: 542,851\nFor its launch of the Galaxy SII in France, Samsung had \"Finger Tutting phenomenon\" JayFunk perform an interesting choreography.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n20. \"100 YEARS / STYLE / EAST LONDON\" (Westfield Stratford City)\n\nShares: 529,832\nTo promote the shopping center's opening, Westfield Stratford released this video, which features 100 years of East London style in 100 seconds. It left not just shoppers talking, but people around the world as well.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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