Sex spreads. That should be the replacement adage of "sex sells" for the latest viral videos. Tired of chipmunks and chocolate rain, clips of the Wii Fit Girl spread eagle across the interweb in record time. Feeding off the fanny frenzy, Playboy's Jo Garcia attempts to pwn the Wii Fit Girl in a battle of panties and pigtails. Surprisingly, this very staged version doesn't have the same ass appeal as the original.

Update: The agency who created the site and Garnier appear to have been unaware of any activity executed by PayPerPost. The campaign itself is a cute spoof site, but didn't have the intention of marketing without transparency. Adrants is currently investigating who was behind the PayPerPost marketing.

We're begrudgingly posting this to out Garnier's lame attempts at viral marketing and potentially another blogging blunder from PayPerPost (though, we're sure they're smiling at the idea of getting any buzz):

Shake Well Before Use received an email from deanaburke@gmail.com:
"Hey- So I saw this video on youtube- I guess Garnier pulled sponsorship of this show, the harry situation, b/c it was too sexed up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQGOZaG0kOg -deana"
Of course, any attempts to Google this email address fail.

The YouTube video shows a supposed Garnier employee telling viewers not to go to http://theharrysituation.com in a very *wink wink* manner.

The Harry Situation site is a horrid attempt at a spoof site, not naming what networks, lawyers, etc. they were working with, but somehow managing to spill out the fill name of "Ganier Frucits" at any chance. A quick WhoIS lookup gives a vague address and another un-Google-able Gmail address.

Googling the name of "Todd Gruyere" only pulls up a handful of sites where you can post for free on (mostly free blog ranking sites). The sites that do contain blurbs about the situation, are all written in a similar style with the same facts on each blurb. Interestingly, these blog posts only link to "The Harry Situation", almost always twice in one blog post, and usually one of the links is a TinyURL (not surprisingly, various blogs are linking to the same TinyURLs, but somehow not to each other, nor to where they obtained this information from), something that isn't used often for blog links.

On this particular blog post, the site is again, linked to twice (with 2 TinyURLs). One of which is supposed to go to Todd's "blog", but when you click on the link, it (surprise!) takes you to an image of the "show" hosted on PayPerPost. Also, "interestingly", the same name of the image is used on the Harry Situation blog, only this time appropriately hosted on the site. Other blogs that host the post load PayPerPost data when you visit them.

Our investigative conclusion? Not only has PayPerPost Garnier (and potentially associated ad agencies) attempted to "game" bloggers, by somehow believing that they will link to anything without credentials, but it seems that they are incredibly insatiable in making themselves and any blogger associated with them become an evil empire of ridiculousness.

Dear PayPerPost, PayPerPost bloggers, and PayPerPost clients (possibly, but not yet confirmed, Garnier), please stop lying your way to links. It's pathetic and disrespectful.

Update: Adpuppet researches Deana Burke further.

Update 2: The content creator (Kirt) left a few comments below. It appears that Kirt and Garnier were unaware of the PayPerPost efforts.

Crabs, the intimately-natured itch that's not commonly sought out by those engaging in sexual activity, are in demand at a Dutch natural history museum. Although the news appears as a hoax at first hearing about it, the not-so-pleasant search for the parasite seems to be true.

"The Rotterdam Natural History Museum has appealed for somebody — anybody — to give it a single crab louse for its collection, amid fears they may be dying out."

What's more interesting about the article is the explanation for why the lingerie lice might be near extinction.

"The article, titled "Did the Brazilian Kill the Pubic Louse?" found that crabs rates had fallen first in women, and several years later in men in Leeds even as rates of other sexual ailments were flat or rising. The authors hypothesized that the bikini wax known as "The Brazilian" that removes all or most pubic hair, might be to blame. "Although initially predominantly seen in females, extensive hair depilation, including pubic hair, has become popular in males in the past few years," wrote study author Nicola Armstrong. "This, along with reduced transmission rates from female partners, may account for the recent similar reduction in male patients." Moeliker said that in essence, the lice's habitat is being threatened."

Yes, Brazilian waxes are threatening to put a species on the endangered list! The wonderful writer from the Associated Press of this article ended the story on an amusing note of how pubic lice are akin to house sparrows. Just remember, every time you wax, god kills a crab.

[Thx, Jeremy!]

Trying to tempt the viral nature of interweb videos, a few new ads from Elle Macpherson Intimates feature bored ladies in lingerie. The ads may also be an attempt at commercializing the increasing number of Justin.tv webcam girls that seemingly only sit bored in front of their computers as men boys unwilling to pay for PG-rated pr0n dare them to do silly things around the house. Attention-loving aside, the lingerie certainly doesn't go without notice. Adverbox points to other ads in the series.

As annoying as the classic AOL "You've Got Mail!" voice of obviousness, GMail has decided to kick off an attempt at everyone's loathed beloved acronym CGM. Asking for submissions in spirit of the one above, GMail wants you to print out and pass the "M-velope" on video. Thankfully the pain doesn't last long, as videos are asked to be 10 seconds or less. Entries are due by August 13, in case you want to try out for being not internet famous.

Nintendo aims to teach teens about STDs, puberty, pregnancy and more. With Oscar-winning lines like "Huh? What?" this sex education video stars an adolescent teen who gets teleported down the NES rabbit hole to a TRON-esque experience. Luigi guides the dazed and confused teen through what testes are, while Mario offers delightful commentary like "totally tubular!". Between the nostalgic blips and bleeps and a clip of "condom boots" saving the day against AIDS, the video ends with a Captain Planet feel-good moment of "Nintendo Power! Safe Sex Is Teh The Best!". Also, what's with Luigi having no accent? Needless to say, this is WTF-approved.

[via]

Oh, who can't forget the interweb's beloved Nintendo Sixty-FOOOOOOOOOOUR!!1!!1! kid? That kind of geek love can only be recaptured by balding old men splooging over the iPhone launch (yes, we're looking at you, Mossberg). So, that's exactly what this guy in a pair of onesie pajamas did. Oh-Em-Gee! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Similar to Strongbad, a commercial for Powerthirst, a (hopefully) fictional product, pokes fun at cheesy energy drink commercials. The commercial comes from Picnicface, who invites you to harness the power of 400 babies. With words like "rawberry", Powerthirst states that these aren't your Dad's puns, these are energy puns - TURBOPUNS. Turbopuns aside, what man wouldn't love to grip a hard can and down a throat-full of menergy?

[via]

In wake of the recent Olympic logo chaos, a friend of a coworker of mine made this lovely logo. While less creative than imagining Lisa Simpson giving head, it's still to be one of the many user-generated-content to come.

Similar to the recent Elave "we have nothing to hide" campaign, a new campaign of the political nature takes a bold turn to getting your attention. Supposedly, a Belgian NEE party senate candidate, Tania Derveaux, wanted to make job opportunity promises she could keep, unlike her opponents. Posing nude with bold copywriting that we can only hope wasn't posted near any major traffic intersections, Tania promised to "give you 40,000 blowjobs". Tania proved her smarts in time management as well, calculating that it would take 500 days at 80 BJs a day to complete the task. Adrants reports, "the goal is to detract enough votes from legitimate candidates, assigning them to empty parliament seats which takes money and power away from parties and turns the power to the people who can sanction other politicians."

Taking note of a commenter's tip, it appears this might in fact be a promotion for a movie directed by Tania, called IP (more info at movieLOL.org). The commenter also signed up to be one of the lucky 40,000 and received a video note back, not from Tania, but from her innocent-looking, cute Asian girl "assistant". The slightly NSFW video involves the assistant giving "air head" for six minutes in tongue-slurping detail, with an occasional political reference here or there. By the end of it, I completely forgot what I was working on... oh right, a blog post about... advertising?

Probably best that they launched this after Easter. A not-so-adorable Flash game challenges you to save a cute bunny from going to hop-hop heaven. By shocking, shaving, and slicing him open, you have 60 seconds to save his life. That's only the length of the last disappointing Super Bowl commercial you saw! Then again, 60 seconds can drag on. The play-doctor game was created by 10mg interactive, that has a client roster including: Agency.com, JWT, Tribal DDB, BMW, Canon, Coca-Cola, Intel, and Sony Ericsson.

[via]

Good Magazine's video infographic about porn undresses the facts. (slightly nsfw, but totally suitable for your week's end).

[via]

While trends flickr and fade, Lolcats seem to never get old. Laughing Squid points out the phenomenon while joining in on the cat meme revolution. The misspelled cat captioned photos have expanded to social networks as well, perhaps to slow down "your shit is broken!" emails from flooding the inbox. Sites like Twitter and Iminlikewithyou have caught on and created their own Lolcats. Perhaps Second Life and MySpace could take some learnings from these Lolcat earlier adopters. So, even though interweb stars may pop up on VH1 (if we're lucky, we'll see their 'vh1's behind the interweb' drugged out downfall in years to come), Lolcats seem to have star staying power.

[Sidenote: Giving a keynote speech on virtual communities and Second Life today at a mini conference. Perhaps a Lolcat is in order to soften the audience up beforehand. Jealous? You can build your own here.]

While most viral videos entertain in 30 seconds or less, there are a few that only get better with each minute that passes. This meaty-multi-minute clip features a show on Atlanta Public Access TV, aptly titled Vagina Power (though Pussy Power may have a bit more of a ring to it). For fair warning, the audio on this is NSFW. Watch it before we jump up all in your clitor-whatnot like a jack rabbit.

[via Kent via Kevin]

Stains aren't the only marks made in the production of porn. While you can try blaming it on a hardcore face to crotch scene, explaining the bump on your head to your friends may prove to be far less provocative. Dare we admit that there's something about the sound of skull cracking and a proceeding moan upon collapse that arouses our attention among other things. Though the video [no nudity - work safe] was posted last summer, it has an addictive quality that makes you want to press "play again" while you wear out the L's and the O's on your keyboard.

Thanks, Mike!

Challenged with the launch of a new book and a necessity to peak interests, the publishers at HarperCollins decided to market the book solely online. To no surprise, there was a limited budget. Originally the publisher had set out to market the book in newspapers and magazines, but the content proved to be a bit too precariously positioned for publishing. The novel, Average American Male by Chad Kultgen is about what men really think. This isn't the bubblegum version of "He's Just Not That Into You", as such, it required above-average American advertising. More than a million views and a third printing later, some may call the sexed up spots a success. View videos #1, #2, and #3.

Perverts appear to go to great lengths to explain their 'caught in the act' behavior. Making its rounds among the awkward-infatuated blogosphere, panda porn has finally penetrated beyond the passive (yet entertaining) media of the Discovery Channel. Reportedly, a Thai zoo, distraught over the lack of moaning and clearly intimidated by the dreaded "sperm headache", starting showing a panda porn video to the captive pandas with the intent to "encourage the male to show some interest in his partner". The story may seem a little fickle to those subscribing to the furry fanclub way of life, where what would be better than working at a zoo and getting paid to watch how the "male mounts the female in a reproductive ritual"? Furries aside, the poor attempt of a "porn for pandas" excuse smells fishier than bear's breath.

New words are buzzing around the blogosphere lately. Blogging tends to build bemes (a blog meme, for the unhip and unaware) as well as fat over time. As such, Jason Calcanis intertwined the concepts to create fatblogging. What is fatblogging? While ideally it would be the liveblogging of oral indulgence, it's actually the opposite. Perhaps experiencing some jealously over Wii-Weight-Loss Experiment, bloggers join up and document their weight-loss and exercise each day as well as share thoughts and tips. The lovely Joseph Jaffe and Hugh Macleod have already signed up, so if Hugh's sketches become a little more angry and Jaffe's blog slows down even more, don't be alarmed. If you care to burn off that blogger backfat of yours, Jason invites you to work up a sweat and be part of the movement.

While fetishes among people are sometimes derived from childhood fears, fetishes among pets may be following in step. This YouTube video recently surfaced involving a cat that receives (and asks for) a spanking. You'd have to wonder if he/she gets into the trash on purpose. Though the video is cute, who is taking more pleasure from the spanking? Here's hoping the owner isn't letting out frustrations of having a timid girlfriend.

Sneaux shoes, known for the few tv spots featuring Jackass's Steve-O, has created a new spot for their reel. Cutting through all the film-of-me-skateboarding crap that has existed for decades, the stop-motion spectacle is called "Human Skateboard" for obvious reasons. The video was directed by PES, a self-proclaimed "twisted film" site. This might not be what Microsoft was intending when they launched their "people ready" campaign last year, but it certainly makes for a better ad than they've yet to make.

Sorry, this is still making me laugh.

In case you missed it on Make:, Agenda Inc., Engadget, Boing Boing, Pop Candy, Consumerist, or AdPulp, Aqua Teen Hunger Force (a highly recommended acquired taste of a cartoon) started a viral/guerilla campaign that truly climaxed yesterday. With 10 different locations over the past few weeks, the LED art of one of the characters flipping the bird required a bit of wiring around bridges and other structures. Bostonians, apparently having no sense of humor nor pop culture context, took it as a bomb threat however, and closed down major lines of traffic while they attempted to "detonate" the cartoon.

AdPulp claims that the agency behind the guerilla project, Interference Inc., are idiots - also pointing that their website has been pulled offline. Maybe so in their case, especially given the yellow-bellied-website-hiding, but overall I disagree. This has to be up there in one of the most successful viral campaigns around - perhaps on accident. Just think, if there was no bomb scare, would this be viral? If someone on the news didn't mention the Make: blog as a potential lead, would it have as much spread? During my time at VML, I've been involved in numerous pitches that specifically required a "budget for bail" due to what we were proposing. Even without budget, we've been given the go ahead for taking time off work in case of getting arrested. Hopefully Interference Inc. will grow some balls and realize that no matter how much negative publicity they get, they achieved viral success, which is a lot more than most others can claim.

Update:
AdRants commenters are going Chicken Little on this.

Update 2: You can now bid on a piece of advertising history

Update 3: The chumps (yes, to the disappointment of many, they're total chumps) hold a press conference - video on YouTube here

Spoofing is much sweeter when there's no brand. Just pure, unadulterated filth between you and your YouTube. This recently uploaded, yet outdatedly created spot for Fight Club (read: Fuck Club (read: F%@! Club for virgin eyes and/or affinities toward l33t speak) explores the queer underpinnings of Tyler Durton. While this provides a nice refresher between Wii and Apple and PC spoofing overloads, it still puts us as the office chumps if we try and ask if anyone caught that new old Fight Club spoof. Crying over YouTube not existing when your little movie came out doesn't make us pity you.

Perhaps developed over the numerous power outages caused by ice storms this winter, someone got a little creative with the leftover tea lights. Bringing back the classics, this stop-motion video uses a grid of candles to shed light on Pong, Pacman, Tetris and others. A romantic candlelit console for two.

Moreso, just like celebrities. Forbes published their list of Web Celeb 25 - the top 25 interwebbies that encapsulate the "biggest, brightest and most influential people on the Internet". The list starts out with LonelyGirl15 and trails down through bloggers, bloggers, and more bloggers. Considering LonelyGirl15 was just a one-off viral effort of sorts, you have to wonder if they notched her as #1 to avoid the wrath of the bitchy bloggers and anonymous commenters.

Using their blogs as their acceptance award stage, the blogebrities seem to stay right on cue with Hollywood. While some are thanking the academy and you can already begin to hear the music play before you reach the end of their post, others go the way of Fiona Apple and others, taking the stage time to criticize the world, leaving the audience with that awkward, "should we clap for this...?" moment.

The recipe for YouTube success seems to be a comfort food everyone grew up with. Destruction of products, the more brand-heavy, the sweeter, and a lack or complete disregard of editing skills creates a delightful snack for everyone to enjoy. The Sony PSP appears to be the latest YouTube star, in a katana-stabbing match. What kind of dork owns a katana, you ask? The same kind that attempts a PSP seppuku with bare feet. Somewhat cringing and yet still hopeful that the little chump would stab and miss, one must realize that not all can reach the YouTube greatness of those past.

Blackmail, a hostage, a little extorsion (apparently hackers don't have time to spell check extortion), some stealing of Diesel's website, and the latest campaign called Heidies is underway. With a bit of pleasurable trickery and handcuffs, the culprits are on a mission to become 'so f**king famous!'. Delving deeper into the covert operation, a live webcam shows the girls' latest victim alongside a poll of how to torture him. A live chat also reveals the desperate begging for more among viewers around the world. The Heidies are definitely delicious, but not so promiscuous, as they make sure you get what they're after, "No, we will not show our tits, been there, done that, didn't work". Here's to trying.

From business suit to birthday suit, the PETA girls take center stage at a State of the Union 'Undress'. Prefering to bare skin instead of wearing skin, PETA wants you to know that the only legal hot chicks shouldn't come from KFC. While most viral videos are nothing but teases, this NSFW one makes sure to finish you off. By the end, you'll be begging her to throw red paint on you like the dirty, fried-chicken-eating boy you are.

As annoyingly frequent as AdRants hourly updates over the Julie Roehm (who? exactly.) debacle last month, apparently mentioning anything about the violently hip Wii console sends in a flood more. Since The Wii Sex Movie was the most popular link last week, it's only considerate to post the sequel. Wanting to milk the viral fame for all its worth, the douchey chump of a boyfriend continues his story, post-dropping-the-soap-in-a-gamer-convention. Don't flatter yourself, anal-Wii-rape boy, Katie Couric shoved things up her ass on national television and look where that got her.

Taking the ruler to inexperienced guys' backsides across the nation, Old Spice unleashes its latest public service announcement. The campaign grabs attention by telling guys everywhere that it's just not okay to be "inexperienced" under anyone's watch. Old Spice needs all the attention they can get since Axe and others in the men's department have taken center stage with their so-horny-for-you ad chicks.

[via]

While a seemingly obvious viral video for the physical benefits of the Wii, someone had to do it. Taking the cake, The Wii Sex Movie (they seriously couldn't come up with a Wii pun for a title!?). The premise is hot enough, but most could probably do without the chumpy boyfriend. For those already tingling about the idea, Fleshbot is offering bonus points to any adventurous couples willing to 1up the video by trying it out on Wii bowling. My mind is already in the gutter.

Arguing over who's clip measures larger this week are a series of internet "super stars". VH1's Web Junk TV calls for your votes to determine the 40 Greatest Internet Superstars. While some have an ass for a face (nsfw), and some are simply considered an ass-face, the candidates prove to make the running competitive. A few highlights: Lazy Sunday, Diet Coke and Mentos, Bank of America, Lonelygirl15, Look at me being serious, Tom, Numa Numa, OK GO, Tron Guy.

What about Dick in a Box? Box in a box? Smirnoff Raw Tea? Shave Everywhere? Leeroy Jenkins? That lame Rolling Rock video that everyone liked? (Yeah, calling you out.)

Contagious magazine lists their most contagious items for 2006. With the year in review, categories included gadgets, design, gaming, mobile, and viral to name a few. Highlights include Second Life, Wii, Lonelygirl15, ZeFrank, Skype, Smirnoff Raw Tea Partay, adidas adicolor (seen the Jenna Jameson one?), and Banksy. With all the 2006 contagious celebs, what unworthy soul wasn't on the list? Zune.

Download the Most Contagious 2006 pdf here.

I power Blogger! Err, maybe not. Showing their true colors, the blogosphere proves their one degree of separation with a game of tag. Dragging their feet and whining "I normally don't do this" to make themselves appear 'so above these petty games', they wasted your precious RSS-readin' time. To that, I say, get the fuck over yourselves, you whine enough everyday as is. So your traffic sucks one day because you made a post that only stalkers, and in rare cases, people who secretly want to date you and thus Googled you, want to read.

Here's the background on the link-clusterfuck: Jeff Pulver started it, who tagged to Steve Garfield, who tagged to Zadi Diaz and Kevin Nalty, who tagged to Robert Scoble and Danah Boyd and Steve Rubel (but wait, didn't Jeff Jarvis link to Steve?), who linked to Steve Hall (who when asked said it was stupid to tag him because he's not going to play personal shit on his blog) then some other person who I'm not caring about who at this point linked to Niall Kennedy, Irina Slutsky, Ze Frank, and WMJ tagged me, la la la whatever. You can go to the Blog Tag Tree, but they just tag some advertisement of themselves at the end that I didn't bother to read.

So, without further ado, 5 things my blog readers may not know about me (I'm going with a chronological theme):

1. I'm somehow a long descendant of a King. I'm part Persian (though, I don't look it), and the family name on my mother's side comes from King Khosrov. My grandfather and most of my cousins were born and raised in Iran. Some don't speak English, so I someday would like to learn how to speak Farsi.
2. I'm a modeling school dropout - at the tender age of 13, it just wasn't a good fit.
3. I technically started coming into the agency I'm at now (VML) after being given a tour when I was 14 because I was deadset on being a graphic designer. I would come in on my spare time after school and on days off to play around with Adobe apps on the Creative Director's computer and be a little "cool hunter" of websites for him. At 16 I became an intern, at 17 I became a contractor, and finally at 20 I was officially hired (I'm fairly tenacious).
4. I used to be hardcore into the "rave scene" (but never once have done drugs). I started going to 2-3 a weekend when I was 15. At 16, I threw and promoted a few alongside a good friend of mine. Oddly enough, "underground rave parties" helped lead to my later calling in viral marketing.
5. I was a straight-A (99-100%) student in every Math class I took throughout my K-12 school career. Though I didn't enjoy math classes, there wasn't an equation or theorem I couldn't naturally figure out... it just seemed to always make sense to me.

For variously random reasons, I tag: Tony Pierce of LAist, the boys of American Copywriter, Regine of (who hands down runs my #1 all-time favorite blog) We Make Money Not Art, Stuart Wallace of DHADM, and a fellow-cute-blog-girl (Regine, Whitney, and I should start a club), Whitney Matheson of Pop Candy.

In a very welcome venting session a la 'dropkick the punks', my friend alphamonkey over at the Transbuddha/DHADM blog clique calls out clueless 'viral marketers' in what can only be described as a "Cockpunch the Chumps" manifesto.

"We [bloggers] willfully and happily render ourselves crappy content meat shields so that our readers don’t have to wade through the infinite trench of crap that runs through the heart of this here intraweb. Our success is as dependent on our ability to provide background and context as it is to find that perfect football to daddy’s crotch video. Because of that, we won’t just post a viral site because an heretofore anonymous person sent us an e-mail telling us to. That’d make us chumps, you see? We’ll post it because we can provide a reason to visit. We’ll post it because our ability to be in the know (and by proxy let the reader know) makes or breaks us.

So in essence: Don’t treat site editors and bloggers like they’re dumb, and we won’t immediately consign your e-mails to our ever increasingly vigilant spam filters. If you (and your client) think your site is mierda caliente, then have enough faith in it to provide us the details we want. Who built the site? Who is running the campaign? What other campaigns go with it? That information won’t tank a campaign, I promise."

Admittedly being involved in viral marketing, I do whole-heartedly agree with alphamonkey. Just like a few companies have slowly done, viral marketers will eventually need to come out of their shells and be willing to be more transparent. It is possible to maintain a balance between company confidentiality and transparency (because I do realize that viral marketers often need to represent and give credit to the client and not the ad agency). If anything, it is a viral marketers job to be the one to direct a viral campaign and insist on transparency. If not, the viral marketer is potentially single-handedly ruining their client's image to a very large community.

My addition to the call-out would be, don't be a one-off. Viral marketing isn't about hitting as many people as you can, that's what TV is for. Viral marketing should be about building relationships over time - if the content is good, then it will speak for itself. For this reason, I have taken a liking my personal suggestion of a more appropriate title: Purveyor of Cool Shit.

For as much viral as there is out there on the not-so-vast interweb, it's easy to to become jaded and let the laughing-til-tears fade into snickering to snorting to lol-typing to an eventual "meh" with each YouTube link sent your way.

Following the happy trail of flawless viral, however, discreet Remington hits the runway and gives something for the ladies in the battle of body hair viral. Giving Philips' Shave Everywhere campaign a bit of one-ups-manship, Stefane Monzoen's collection puts out an array of eye candy. From the Precious Peacock to the Seductive Snake, Monzoen has erected a new series of trends that no one can quite place their finger on, despite their wishes. Women have a bit more creative freedom with their hoo-haw anyhow (someone tell Britney) so it was only a matter of time before pussy playtime. So, ladies, which folicular fashion are you sporting under that lace?

Pry yourself from YouTube and download the video here - (mov) or (wmv)

Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. VAIO sends mixed messages our way with this spoof of a Mac ad. Asking "who do you want to play with?", your choices are between a farting PC, a smug Mac, and a red-headed hipster-girl VAIO. Making the choice clear, you can e-pinch her butt and make her giggle.

Giggling hipsters aren't the only mixed messages VAIO sends our way, though. Promoting themselves as the "Non-pc PC" makes little to no sense. So, VAIO is the Non-personal computer, personal computer? It seems VAIO may have struck gold in stabbing the hipster/emo kids with the unintentional, indirect jab of "I'm different, just like everybody else". Perhaps just taking the concept out for a test drive, it only appears as a small Flash piece on Sony's C-Series VAIO laptop site.

Unlike the previous week's obviously fake-as-double-D banned commercials, this one appears to be a bit closer to the truth. Showing once on TV last Sunday, this French spot has now taken the deep dive into viral. For Manix condoms, the spread is shown as anything but "viral" as a tsunami of fucking, sex, and lovemaking causes the world to explode, like a, a... an overkill of innuendos. Coming in three variations that make you remember why you avoid ordering "Thai Hot" at noodle shops, Manix offers "Intense", "Hot" and "Xtra", with an additional vibrating ring for the adventurous types.

Rolling Rock tells us to grab the low hanging fuit by the proverbial horns and play to the lowest common denominator. Initial commenters on AdRants seem to be raving over the latest YouTube craze involving an ape flying into a pool party and dancing with bikini babes while handing out beer.

Aside from the legal stupidity I mentioned about the lack of age verification for advertising alcohol, this video seems too easy. Seriously, it's not that hard to brainstorm "super awesome cool viral video" ideas for an alcoholic beverage. There were no risks taken. And while, mission accomplished, Rolling Rock played to the masses with an integrated TV and online campaign, the "viral video" didn't even get the beginning snorts of a laugh from others.

So, should viral be an EasyMac recipe to clickthrough success similar to TV, or should risks be attempted? What are your thoughts?

Similar to Virtual Bartender, minus interactive robustness, STA Body Shots invites you to follow the not-so-happy trail to stupidity.

Apparently confident that they understand their audience, STA Travel, a student travel agency, launched a site where you "pick a body" and then "pick a shot", to then watch the first-person camera perspective take the shot while self-obsessed girls either bitch over getting any on their swimsuit or talk about how attractive they find themselves.

Visiting the official website, STA promotes themselves as "helping students & young people experience the world." Additionally, "STA Travel will change the way people think about travel and in doing so will make a positive contribution to the lives of millions." Apparently positive contribution is defined by licking up whipped cream off a belly, resulting in a higher education of learning how you got home that night and why you may need to see a doctor about that "itch".

While the bottom of the site reminds you to "sip, drink, slam, and shoot your alcohol responsibly", the site does not ask for any kind of age verification. Similarly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone is considering this "viral" because it has a send-to-a-friend ala "Send Shot" option.

Cue up the feel-good music from the 50's and the throwback to "how to be a good homemaker" and blend it with modern YouTube dubayu-tee-eff moments.

With a pinch of horsepower and a pair of safety glasses, Tom Dickson hosts "Will It Blend?", a series of YouTube vids with balls, sometimes literally. Dickson slices everything from balls to rake handles to marbles. Impressively, this is one viral video that might actually increase sales.

If bloggers live and die by content, is a viral effect only a representation of desperation?

If blogs, notably advertising blogs (note: viral isn't viral if only advertising blogs pick it up), are turning their dials to viral and constantly seeking it out, does their authority only communicate a misleading perception of viral behavior rather than a reality?

A blog certainly has the influence to create a contagious reaction, but if viral is a perception, the reach dies with their immediate audience's attention span. Does it matter if viral is a perception and not a reality? Perhaps not, however, if mostly perception-based, this could explain the point of friction between ad agencies and clients. At the end of the day, someone is asking for impressions and not touchy-feely write-ups.


(Blogging from the airport because I'm so fucking cool...)

Despite the Sony's dramatic delays in launching PS3, they went ahead and launched a viral video campaign. The video, This Is Living, is a glance at the human element in gaming. Promoting real time and a system that actively learns from you, rather than programming, the PS3 is a "living, thinking, breathing opponent".

Not like any of us are ones to speak about selling out... But yes, the Numa dork is back in action, now in an exclusive partnership with the devil that includes such benefits as: ringtones, music, shirts, coffee mugs, bad logo designs, and a contest.

Just like George Lucas couldn't keep his grubby paws off of destroying the original Star Wars with "special" effects, so does the New Numa. Don't worry, the original theatrical version is available here.

So, any predictions on when the Numa guy is going to appear on Celebrity Fit Club 14, or whatever number they're on?

While bloggers act as the proverbial glove for protecting your inbox from lame co-workers emailing you to 'check this out!' (we usually give you the ammo to say 'well, Scoble thought it was shit'), virally transmitted videos are still making their rounds.

Viral Video Chart is a fairly new site, and they're already a favorite of mine simply because of this blurb:

"This is why ad agencies wet their pants. Imagine reaching 30m people for the cost of a round of drinks in your favourite watering hole? Rarely happens, though. While some agency work is pretty good most of it is staggeringly awful." - That "staggeringly awful" link? Oh yes, Agency.com's flacid penis of a video.

List of 20, super happy fun Japanese commercials. Though, as commenters point out, they're not all commercials... and, well, they're not all exactly Japanese. But don't let that stop you from soaking in some laugh tracks and dubayu-tee-eff moments. And of course, there's some pervy ones for all you one-handed typers and friends of AdRants.

via: BoingBoing