Farm-raised spoof of ‘I’m Sexy and I Know It’ video goes viral
Cattle and crops are giving Magic Mike a run for his money in a new video parody of the LMFAO hit “I’m Sexy and I Know It” — except now it’s “I’m farming and I grow it” and the stars are a trio of farm-raised brothers from Kansas.
On YouTube, the video has gone viral and racked up well over 3 million hits. To the agriculture industry, the attention is a welcome reprieve from the debate over a farm bill extension. The Future Farmers of America dedicated a podcast to the video and invited the makers to its upcoming convention.
The production’s impresario: Kansas State University student Greg Peterson, who roped in his brothers Nathan and Kendal to star in the rap-fest on their family farm near Assaria, Kan.
Starting at the break of dawn for three weeks in the middle of wheat harvest, their 12-year-old sister Laura helped shoot video of them driving tractors, bucking hay, checking on the cows and performing other farm work while chanting, “Gotta feed everybody.”
Their other lines include: “I got a passion for my plants and I ain’t afraid to show it.” One boy even raps an Iron Man reference: “When I’m in my tractor, I got more power than an arc reactor.”
And, true to viral video form, there’s even a shot of a cute kitten lapping milk.
All this for a ditty that Greg Peterson doesn’t even enjoy. When he heard it on the radio station this spring while with friends, he was initially annoyed, he told the FFA.
“It’s kind of a stupid song,” he said. “I didn’t even really like it … [but] the more I thought, this has kind of got potential.”
The opportunity to spoof it proved too irresistible.
“I just thought it was funny, didn’t have any vision for it really,” Peterson said in the podcast. “But once the video started to come together, we really started pushing for that advocacy feel. People need to know where their food comes from. People need to know who farmers are. We’re not bad people.”
The Petersons’ video, along with several others this year, is raising agriculture’s profile among mainstream Millennials. McDonald’s recently began focusing on farmers and other suppliers in an advertising campaign. Chipotle aired a video promoting sustainable farming, voiced by country crooner Willie Nelson, during the Grammys.
Next up: Party rock is in the barn tonight?
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