Cardo Systems Forced To Remove Popcorn Viral
Cardo Systems, a producer of Bluetooth Headsets, launched a viral video at the end of May, 2008. It’s a viral video which most of us still have in mind: Popcorn with Cell Phones. In the video, people used their cell phones to pop corn into popcorn. But just a few days ago the video got banned from YouTube.
The story of Cell Phone Popcorn Video
At first, people speculated about the realism of the video. Some bought the fake, others immediately saw the manipulation. The video was live for 180 days and received in that time around 9 million views with several accounts. With these numbers, the video can be seen a big viral success.
So what to do when you’re the viral winner? Claim the price ofcourse! In July 2008, a few months after the launch, Cardo Systems claimed they made the video in order to get some exposure in social networks.
Seeding not according the ethics
Cardo Systems made one big mistake; the video wasn´t seeded according to the WOMMA seeding ethics (.pdf). Cardo Systems didn’t clearly identify theirselves as the advertiser of the videoclip.
Cell Phone Popcorn Video gets banned
And that’s why the US advertising watchdog NAD of the Council of Better Business Bureaus issued the video had to be taken offline. The NAD released a statement (.pdf) in which they explained their decision. Since last week the original videos are no longer publicly accessible on YouTube.
Conclusion
Its very unwise to do your seeding anonymous or without a clear sender. Either your target audience will find out, which will make your brand look like a liar, or your video will get banned, just like in this case.
In the short term the wrong way can be good for your brand awareness, but if you take a look at the long term, you won’t be having any profit from cheating. The (removed) viral video will disappear from the search results and embedded videos lead to nowhere.
The cell phone popcorn viral is still available at DailyMotion, MetaCafe and Break.com.
Source: The Register, LA Times Blog, Wired.
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9 million free clip views pulled in 180 days?!! I still know marketers that would rather pay a lot for pushy GRP’s…
what would the cost per viewed clip be at above campaign???? $ 0,00015 per watch video (pull!)
Nice post btw