The lemmings’ plummeting toward the water is a dramatic and disturbing sequence, particularly once you know they are being pushed to create the fake story’s drama. In White Wilderness, the filmmakers brought lemmings into Alberta, Canada, and staged them to look like a mass of them was jumping off a cliff into the water: This myth of lemmings committing mass suicide started with a Disney documentary titled White Wilderness (1958), which actually won the Best Documentary Oscar. Instead, lemmings migrate to ease the problems created during population booms.

One thought the lemmings descended from the sky during storms, and another story suggested they came down with snow. Lemming populations vary widely over time, and earlier wild theories attempted to explain these shifts. Unfortunately, the voters went with the lemmings on this one.īut let’s get right to the point: Lemmings do not commit mass suicide. This amusing campaign commercial compared lemmings with a death wish to politicians and the status quo: To say the least, the commercial did not go over well. The few might serve as blocks or bombs, for example, to keep the group flowing or to remove some obstacles.Īpple created a dystopian lemmings commercial for its Macintosh Office:Īpple critiques the workers who continue to use the same applications without question and suggests their doom for doing so. In the game, players herd their lemmings through a maze-puzzle, trying to save as many as possible, while sacrificing a few to prevent the mass suicide.

Lemmings the video game is perhaps the most popular. The idea of lemmings commiting mass suicide shows up elsewhere in popular culture. (Both are necessary for effective project management, however.) A shot from the popular Lemmings video game. One lemming in the back says, “I’d like to question the leadership on this move.” Another lemming next to him says, “Shut up! You’re undermining the troops!” Arguably, the questioning lemming is the leader, while the other lemming is management. The cartoon depicts lemmings following each other over a cliff in a mass suicide. In a leadership training session today, the facilitator showed the following cartoon:

Lemmings jumping off cliffs youtube