'Hugging It Out' Across the Globe

Aug. 14, 2007 — -- The meaning of a hug is understood universally. Maybe that is why one Internet video, the "Free Hugs Campaign," has been viewed by more than 17 million people, and has inspired several imitations on the Web.

But what few know is the success story behind the video, and how the song "All the Same" launched a Sydney band into cyberstardom.

The "Free Hugs Campaign" is a popular video that started in Australia as collaboration between Juan Mann, a local who had just broken up with his fiancée and was down on his luck, and Shimone Moore, a lead singer in a rather unknown band at the time, the Sick Puppies, who was saving up money to move to America to pursue his music career.

"One of the jobs that I had saving up my share of the money was this sandwich board that would advertise half-price shoes, and I would hold this board up for four hours a day, and I'd sit there and I'd read books, and I would write lyrics, and I would just, that is what I would do," Moore recalled.

While Moore was working in the mall, he ended up meeting Juan Mann, who was also carrying a sign, advertising "Free Hugs."

"I felt a little bit down and I felt like I had to do something a little inspiring to make myself smile and do something good for someone else," Mann said, "so, I went and got a piece of cardboard and wrote the words free hugs on it and went out into the Pitt Street mall in Sydney and offered a stranger a free hug. It's been a pretty amazing journey ever since."

Mann would stand for 15 minutes in the middle of a busy thoroughfare in Sydney, waiting. Then slowly complete strangers approached and hugged him.

The Idea for the Video

"[Moore] came up to me one day and said, 'Hey, what you're doing is great, has anyone filmed a documentary about you or anything?' I said no," Mann said. "He went and borrowed his dad's video camera and the next week started filming what was going on around me. That was about the point in time when the council [police] stepped in and said, 'Wait a minute, you haven't got permission to be here.' It was in the right place at the right time."

Later when Mann's grandmother fell ill, Moore sent him the final video. But little did he know his random act of kindness was about to drastically change his life.

"I made this video as like a get well card for him, with 'All The Same' as the soundtrack, because it was one of the tracks that we had finished. I made it, I sent it to him, he liked it, the band liked it, and then we put it on YouTube," Moore said.

Mann was moved by the video. "The moment I saw it, I started crying. I showed it to a few family members and other friends and they started crying. And everyone said, 'You know what? You should really put that on YouTube and share it with everyone because it's just so inspirational.' It makes me feel good."

The video was posted on Youtube in 2006, and the video and the Sick Puppies' single "All the Same" quickly took off.

"Free Hugs Campaign" spin off videos began popping up all over the Web from Korea to Scotland to New York City.

As the "Free Hugs" video gained momentum, the Sick Puppies rose to stardom, and signed a record deal with a major recording label in the United States.

Faye Allard, a University of Pennsylvania graduate student, made her own "Free Hugs" spin-off, titled "Hug-A-Rama" with three friends in Philadelphia's Love Park.

"I really expected other members of the public to shy away in terms of age, race and class, and what I found is everybody loves free hugs, everybody loves a hug and it really broke down ideas about racial stereotypes in particular about who would give hugs and who would receive hugs and it was just brilliant to do, absolutely brilliant," Allard said.

Jill Henner, a Brooklyn native and fixture in the Internet world, made her own version. "I was inspired to make Free Hugs in New York because I wanted to show people that New Yorkers are friendly and outgoing, because New York has a bad reputation of people as being mean and passing you by."

Today, in many of the "Free Hugs" spin off videos, Juan Mann is showered with praise and thanked for his inspiration. Even now, you can still find Juan Mann standing outside of Sydney's Pitt Street Mall, holding his sign offering free hugs.

Shimone Moore and the Sick Puppies are on tour in the United States, and their hit song "All the Same" is No. 10 on the alternative rock chart -- all thanks to a simple act that's been embraced by the world.