Lipdubs as a tool to conquer social influence. A study of four paradigmatic cases made in Quebec, USA, Catalonia and the Basque Country

This article summarizes the principal conclusions of an investigation carried out by the author into lipdub as an instrument used in order to get more social influence. The analyzed lipdubs are the following: “I gotta feeling-UQAM”, performed by students of Communication in Quebec, (in early 2012, it was the most viewed lipdub on the Internet); “The Grand Rapids” (this lipdub holds the record for hits per day on the web); “Lipddub Indepèndencia” (it held the world record for the number of participants – 5,771) and, finally, “Lipdub Kukutza”, the most viewed lipdub in the Basque Country. This work claims that, at this time, a good lipdub can be a crucial tool for social movements in order to overcome the invisibility with which the mass-media often punishes any expression which challenges mainstream tendencies.