About one year ago, staffers at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore., donned pink latex gloves designed to raise breast cancer awareness and danced through the halls of the hospital to Jay Sean's "Down." Medline, maker of the pink gloves, posted a video of the hospital dance party to YouTube on Nov. 13, 2009 — and a star was born.

By Thanksgiving, the video had racked up 1 million views. As hospital employees shared it with friends and family (including "Twilight" actor Peter Facinelli, who Tweeted the link), the video of hospital administrators, physicians, lab workers, surgical staff and housekeepers boogying and waving their pink-gloved hands made its way around the world, spawning copycats and follow-up videos featuring Medline's gloves at other facilities.

Nearly a year after its original posting, the video now boasts more than 12 million views and, for the most part, has been a testament to the potential power and reach of social media.

But the viral video sensation hasn't been without controversy, reports Ragan.com. An e-mail used to forward the video link somehow ended up with a tagline claiming that Medline would donate to the hospital and provide free mammograms if it reached 1 million hits on YouTube. Although a portion of the proceeds from pink glove sales does go to breast cancer research, the company hadn't planned to make the contribution claimed in the e-mail. Medline headed off the rumor by debunking it on Snopes.com.

As the "Pink Gloves Dance" grew in popularity, the company faced another potential legal issue: It hadn't secured rights to the song used in the video. Fortunately for Medline, singer Jay Sean embraced the connection instead of taking legal action, and joined the cause by having the audience at a December 2009 concert don the pink gloves and wave them in the air while he performed "Down."

Irene Tsikitas

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