Volvo Trucks’ film ‘The Hamster Stunt’ becomes a global YouTube hit with over 3.6 million views
Sweden: Just a week after its release, Volvo Trucks’ film ‘The Hamster Stunt’ has become a global YouTube hit with over 3.6 million views. Driving the truck is Charlie – the world’s first truck driving hamster.
‘The Hamster Stunt’, was created by Swedish ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors, and it shows how a truck is steered along narrow, uneven tracks in a quarry in Spain. At the wheel is Charlie, a hamster weighing in at 175 grams.
Exactly one week after the video aired on YouTube, ‘The Hamster Stunt’ has claimed more than 3.6 million views, and the conversation about the authenticity of the stunt and the role of Charlie the Hamster is still going strong.
Why did they put a hamster behind the wheel? In February, Volvo Trucks launched a new technology that makes even a heavily laden truck light and easy to manoeuvre. The driver can steer the vehicle without the least bit of effort, in fact all it requires is a single finger on the steering wheel. Charlie the Hamster puts this technology to the test as he steers a Volvo FMX construction truck up and out of a hazardous quarry.
The experienced stunt driver Seon Rogers assisted Charlie with the accelerator and brakes.
This is the second in the series of ambient stunts for Volvo Trucks and follows “The Hook”
See the film ‘behind the scenes’ and find out how this stunt was made real, and how Charlie the hamster prepared for his challenge.