Singing IHOP Syrup Bottles Have Taken the Internet by Storm

Mike Pomranz
Updated
Videos of the lip-syncing bottles are going viral.

IHOP may have just opened its first location with a bar, but turns out you don’t need alcohol to have fun at the pancake chain. All you need is syrup. Or at least the syrup bottles.

The Twittersphere has fascinated with a bizarre new art form: using IHOP’s multicolored syrup bottles to create anthropomorphic lip-synching singalongs to classic tunes and then posting the results on social media. Apparently, user Jake Guthrie kicked off this strange hobby by tweeting a 51-second video on October 7 depicting the bottles doing a rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” that would make the cast of Wayne’s World proud.

With over 1.5 million views, nearly 40,000 retweets, and approaching 100,000 likes, the concept eventually spread to other Twitter users looking to jump in on the fun and grab some attention. In fact, the battle for bottle lip-synching supremacy has become so big that about a week later, Guthrie decided to post, “This is the first video of its kind, if remade, please credit me, thank you and enjoy.”

It’s easy to see why he might be a bit protective. A very similar video—but with the bottles doing a medley of Tom Jones’s “Hooked on a Feeling” and Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby’s Got Back”—posted by Blake Azevedo on October 13 has gone on to amass well over 10 million views, more than 250,000 retweets, and over 750,000 likes.

Potentially most annoying for Guthrie, the official IHOP Twitter account has only retweeted one of these two videos—and it was Azevedo’s. (It probably helped that, unlike Guthrie, Azevedo tweeted at IHOP in his post.) The chain even put in a request for another clip…

For the record, Azevedo heeded IHOP’s suggestion…

Other less successful imitations have sprung up as well. Anyone in the mood for some Spice Girls?

Regardless, Guthrie doesn’t seem to have any beef over the whole thing. “I was so surprised how this all blew up, people commenting that I made their day gave me such a warm feeling,” he told The Daily Dot. “It’s so cool that people [think it’s so] funny that they make their own. Who knew it’s what America needed?”