Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: June 2005

A kind of immortality?
Visit website to watch video

It would seem that Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Annifrid are not the only Swedes saying 'thank you for the music'. When a spotty Swedish youth sat down in front of his computer to record the amusing sound of his moped impersonations in 1997 he could not possibly have realised the heights to which it would take him. First of all a friend put it on a website, then a Swedish TV researcher stumbled across it, then another enterprising Swede illustrated it with the now familiar animated amphibian, and at last a ringtone company Jamster bought the rights to sell it as a download. The Crazy Frog is already reputed to have netted £10 million for its inventors, with more to come as a dance mix of the sound tops the charts above such musical talent as Coldplay. What are we to make of this phenomenon? Reactions to the Crazy Frog have been extremely varied, but they principally fall into three categories.

1. Jealous These are the people whose reactions actually mask a jealousy that this is the little big idea they never had. Their ruffled feathers and offended sensibilities are actually a smoke screen - if they could sit at their computer and come up with an idiotic idea that would net them millions of pounds they would do it tomorrow.

2. Infuriated These reactions, if less polite than the above, are at least more honest. They range from the fairly mild "damn the frog" to the more explicit "dear God, shoot him" (both posted as comments on the BBC website). These people probably find any ringtones annoying - but this is a leap too far.

3. Amused These people are prepared to laugh at the frog, whilst recognising that it won't be around forever. It is a craze, like the Dancing Hamsters or the Birdie song - and will disappear when its time is up. In the meantime, they urge, have a laugh.

The frog is, as one perceptive critic has already put it, 'a marvel and a disaster all at once'. It is a marvel that we have the humour and technology to create such a thing. It is a disaster that in a needy world £10 million can be spent on anything as inconsequential as a ringtone. Perhaps we should laugh at the frog but weep at our need for him? Once upon a time a mobile phone was a status symbol as well as a useful tool. Now it has to be the right kind of phone with the right kind of ringtone…

Isn't it time a Christian organisation came up with something as idiotically funny as the frog to raise money for a cause that really matters? Let's hear a ringtone at a Christian conference when a speaker has forgotten to turn his or her mobile off which will make us laugh not just at the speaker's embarrassment but at the tone itself. And, if not a ringtone, then something else at least as funny. If it raised money for something good it would be the best kind of laughter, wouldn't it?

PS: for Views' readers with an ability to create such a thing, the gauntlet thrown down is real…and not virtual. [Ed.]