The following is a guest post from Marc Lawn, global CRM director at Premier Farnell and former head of marketing services at Britvic.
Nintendo has been the focus of speculation that it was behind a video of a young woman gyrating in just a T-shirt and knickers as she plays the Wii Fit hula hoop game.
Critics have suggested that the video is a publicity stunt to promote the Wii Fit because the man who posted it works in advertising. Nintendo has denied the claims.
But does it actually matter who posted the clip which has proved a worldwide hit with over 2m views on YouTube?
The video is entertaining and so people are drawn to watch it. In fact, marketing agencies would give their right arm to be behind such a big hit.
The YouTube clip has already spawned a host of spoof versions including one in which a woman films her boyfriend playing on the game console.
The videos are fun and light-hearted, and have spread the virtues of the Wii Fit around the globe.
The debate about who is behind the clip perhaps shows that we take the things too seriously. With scores of people complaining about advertising in general it seems like it is time to remember that the media is there to entertain not to be taken to heart.
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.You can get our blog posts delivered for free by email every day - simply add your email address to the box below or alternatively grab the RSS feed.
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Personally I like the way the link to Amazon from the video is an affiliate link.
More comments from Patrick AltoftI think it is a great viral video, but it is a little sad cause it isnt that funny. She just has a nice ass!!
Steven…. I think you’re bang on…. but at least it wasn’t something Nintendo produced.
Just cannot believe how many people have watched it… maybe they were expected her clothes to fall off at the end!
So many companies are getting into fake viral videos its hard to know what is really homemade anymore.
@ObamaMama – Absolutely, and a lot of companies are encouraging users to record and submit their own videos (Wholefood / Lynx). Now this would be find if they have their own social / video network.. but it becomes annoying when you have to sift through a lot of awful submissions to find the quality videos.
That said, it’s nice to see companies (even the small guys) be proactive, and actually thinking about HOW to engage with users, so hats off.
eek!!
On another note, i’ve just noticed that blogstorm is pulling through the image of my boss from My Blog Log.. .and as a result, it looks I’m a women with long hair.
Rest assured that this is Simon….. and in future I won’t include a link to the company blog.
Thanks for the reassurance Simon – I did look at your name, then the woman, and then your name a good few times.
I concluded long hair didn’t suit men well before reaching the bottom of this page!
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