More than a decade after it was released, Melbourne’s public transport safety campaign is still going viral on social media.

Back in 2012, advertising agency McCann Australia released Dumb Ways To Die – an upbeat, jovial jingle reminding Victorians to be sensible around public transport.

The three-minute clip for Metro Trains showed cute bean-like characters dying in all kinds of dumb ways – some losing their private parts to piranhas, others dropping dead from eating tubes of super glue.

The song’s final verse shows public transport-themed dumb deaths, ranging from falling off a train station platform to failing to stop at a level crossing.

To McCann Australia’s surprise, the campaign didn’t only go viral locally – it exploded internationally.

The original YouTube video had more than 20 million views within a week.

The week of its release, it became the world’s most-shared video, even beating the video for Rihanna’s Diamonds, which was released on the same day.

At the time of publishing, Dumb Ways To Die has 254 million views and counting, and it remains the most-shared advertisement of all time.

And if social media is anything to go by, it’s not slowing down in popularity any time soon.

The track has had a viral resurgence on TikTok and Instagram Reels, with people sharing what can only be described as ‘epic fails’ along with the audio.

From mishaps at the skate park, to a near-accident with a saw blade, people are sharing their misadventures, admitting it would have been a pretty dumb way to die.

@wolfofbrisbane Let’s just say I had good luck today #wolfofbrisbane #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #viral #trend #tradie #electrician #chippy #plumber #concreter #apprentice #apprenticeship #dumbwaystodye #greenscreenvideo ♬ Dumb Ways to Die – Tangerine Kitty

@c_ransleyy Everyone be asking for this 😳💀 #skatepark #scooter #skate #dumb #ways #to #die #crazy ♬ Dumb Ways to Die – Tangerine Kitty

@yaslalee ♬ original sound – YasLalee_AdoreRugs

The DWTD franchise

What started as a humble campaign has expanded into a franchise.

In 2013, Metro Trains Melbourne capitalised on the song’s popularity to create a Dumb Ways To Die mobile game.

The app had more than 103 million downloads and seven billion unique views, and was showcased on YouTube channels far and wide, including on that of the biggest YouTuber at the time, Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg.

The project proved that, not only was the song as catchy as ever, but it could stand alone as a franchise.

The game’s sequel, Dumb Ways To Die 2 was released in November 2014, and Dumb Ways To Die 3: World Tour arrived in 2017.

Plenty of spin-off games were also released, including Dumb Ways to Draw, Dumb Ways to Dash and Dumb Ways to Die: Superheroes.

The next step

In 2021, it was announced that video game developer PlaySide Studios had acquired the Dumb Ways To Die franchise from Metro Trains Melbourne for $2.25 million.

As part of the acquisition, PlaySide acquired all copyright, trademarks, software, merchandise, social media accounts and domain names.

Part of the ongoing popularity of the catchy tune has been thanks to PlaySide, which has since filled the Dumb Ways To Die social media accounts with videos using the song.

In many of their clips, life-sized mascots of the original characters react to people getting hurt.

As part of the celebrations for the song’s 10-year anniversary, PlaySide announced that Dumb Ways to Die 4 will be released some time in 2023.

It has also announced that another video game, Bean Land, is in development.

The gameplay looks to be similar to that of battle arena video game League of Legends, with PlaySide describing it as an “epic top-down action brawler”.

@official_dumbwaystodie #duet with @Helga María ♡ We love this trend !! #dumbwaystodiee #dwtd #dumbways ♬ original sound – Blake Floyd

@official_dumbwaystodie ♬ original sound – Blake Floyd

If you thought that was enough bean-filled content, there’s plenty more where that came from.

PlaySide also took the concept to the virtual marketplace, releasing an NFT called BEANS in February 2022, to be circulated on the Ethereum blockchain.

Although these projects don’t have much to do with public safety any more, PlaySide Studios has signalled that the characters might feature in future campaigns.

Upon the acquisition, the company indicated that there was a strong opportunity for the Dumb Ways To Die franchise in the rail, infrastructure, medical and public health sectors.