Why We Love Planking: A Guide

It’s being blamed for a death in Australia, but the game known as planking doesn’t have to be dangerous. Brian Ries on the global craze for lying down and being photographed. Plus, see the best planking photos.

So what in the world is ‘Planking’?

“Planking,” as it’s currently known, is a “game”—we’re using the term generously here—wherein the participant(s) lie on the ground, or on an object, and pose with face and toes pointed downward and body as stiff as a board. A friend snaps a picture and posts it online. That’s it. Ka-planked!

So you just…lie down?

You got it. That’s really all there is to it, although the objective becomes executing a good plank in extreme or hilarious places. For instance, you could plank a donkey—climb right up on its back and lie down. You could plank the floor of the dairy section in your neighborhood grocery store. Or, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you could plank your boss’ desk on your last day of work—posting the photo online as you walk home for all to see.

Who started it and where did it originate?

Planking got its start about 15 years ago, when two teenagers would run around lying down in random public places across England. They named their little hobby the “Lying Down Game,” and like that it sat for the next 10 years, a memory in two young boys’ minds. Meanwhile, in 2004, a French website collected photos of people posing “à plat ventre”—on one’s belly—reports Know Your Meme. Cut to 2007: Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon, the two English teenagers, decided to revisit their childhood pastime and give it a Facebook page. Their friends, then followed by friends of friends, began to join in on the fun. In 2008, a group of teens began lying down around South Australia—except instead of “Lying Down” they called it “Planking,” giving the LDG a fresh name. Then, in 2009, seven staffers at an English hospital were caught posting photographs of their planks to Facebook. They were suspended, but the media were enthralled, and the meme as we know it was born. Facebook fans of the splintered groups grew by the thousands.

Why are we talking about it on a news site?

That’s a good question! Sadly, something tragic happened last week. Acton Beale, 20, fell off a six-story balcony and died while attempting an extreme plank—balancing on a 5-centimeter wide railing. Another 20-year-old is in a coma after attempting to plank a speeding car. Naturally, people are curious just what these two were up to when they fell. As a result, the Facebook pages have grown in popularity. People are Googling the term like mad. TV reports are all, “Planking: Will It Come to Your Town?” But bring it up in an office setting, like we did here at The Daily Beast, and you may find it hasn’t yet been introduced to everyone—so we’re doing our part.

So it’s pretty popular?

Heck yeah it is. Between the two Facebook pages—OfficialPlanking and Planking-Australia—there are nearly 400,000 fans. They’ve collectively posted hundreds upon hundreds of planking photos featuring kids planking pumpkins, women planking horses, or in one case, a couple planking right there on the Great Wall of China. The “craze,” if we can call it that, even has its own celebrity endorser, David “Wolfman” Williams. The star soccer player planks the field after he scores his goals. For that, he’s a star. But even Williams was touched by the tragedy that has shaken the world of the plankers. On May 18, he tweeted a short message to Generation Plank: “Safe Planking Kids...That is all...”

But what do they get out of it?

Pride. Pleasure. Fleeting Internet fame. Nonsensical photos. A nice view. Memories. A sense of achievement. It all depends on where and how you plank, really. Occasionally plankers wind up with a summons—there have been a few arrests for planking cop cars or automobiles racing down the highway.

Well I want to be famous. How can I go planking? What do I need?

All one needs to join in on the strange little fad is their body and a camera—if you prank and don’t have the picture to prove it, you might have not planked at all. Sneakers are probably a good idea. Also: a good spot. Keep it safe, though. The Daily Beast is only really encouraging you plank your couch at this point. Please avoid dangerous or otherwise illegal planking situations.

Oh, so it’s illegal?

It all depends where you do it, naturally. Plank a cop car and you’ll wind up in jail. Scale a building and you could be charged with trespassing. On Monday, police in Queensland, Australia, announced they would arrest anyone planking “in an unlawful, dangerous, or destructive manner,” so it’s increasingly on the radar of the authorities as a dangerous, if odd, game. You can always plank your floor, of course, and avoid trouble entirely.

I mean, this is pretty stupid.

Hey, man, we didn’t invent it, but it follows in the footsteps of other massive cultural memes that rip through human society—Bros Icing Bros (forcing a friend to chug a Smirnoff Ice), or Extreme Ironing. That one’s just what it sounds like.

Well, then, what are some of the best plankings?

Ah, We’ll let the plankers speak for themselves. Check out our photo gallery of the best planking photos we found on the two Facebook pages. In it, you’ll find a young man planking outside the Louvre, another in an airplane’s overhead bins, and a network anchor planking the set of the Australian TV show Today—all inspiring triumphs for humankind.

So what’s next for this meme?

Following the recent planking tragedies, one of the Australian founders is dismayed. “Perhaps the magic has gone now,” he tells the BBC. “I probably won’t do it again. People need to concentrate on the humorous ones rather than the extreme, dangerous ones.” But despite the Australian disowning his creation, the future is bright for the plankers. Their Facebook pages are as popular as ever. Photographs of extreme or otherwise hilarious plankings go viral on social media. There’s a sub-reddit on Reddit.com. Multiple Tumblrs. And like all popular movements, there are now a few copycats. One’s called Pillaring—participants pose like a stone pillar and snap a pic. There’s Teapotting—people pose like a little teapot, just like the children’s song. And there’s Beasting—participants pose snarling like a beast, their two hands like claws in the air. Has that one gone viral yet? Nope, not yet, we made it up. But feel free to help get it started (safely!).

Brian Ries is senior social media editor at The Newsweek Daily Beast Co. He lives in Brooklyn with his two cats, Peter Ike Lee and Lucky Mr. Loki. His Twitter account is not yet verified.

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