In the last six months, the internet has been taken over by one and only one video. It’s the “Old Spice Guy” video, and if you haven’t seen it, that makes you one of only a handful of people. The video stars the now famous Isaiah Mustafa as “The Old Spice Guy”, who not only smells incredibly good, he’s also the best looking man in the world who can accomplish the most manly feats in the world. Sure, ladies, your man can’t be the Old Spice Guy, but he can smell like him (or so say the advertisements). Just in case you’ve almost been living under a rock, we’ve included the video at the end of this entry!
The first Old Spice video has over fifteen million views on YouTube as of this blog entry, and the follow-up commercial has eleven million. That’s as many views as a TV commercial sometimes gets, but the TV commercial is forcing itself on you, whereas viral videos mean that you’ve chosen to go watch the video (and the message from the producer of the product).
You’ve seen this video, haven’t you? And if so, you were susceptible to the method of viral video advertising, which is becoming more and more common as people spend more time online and have better video capabilities when they’re online.
The good news is that viral video advertising, while a sneaky way of making you think that you’re getting entertained while also telling you that you need to buy, buy, buy, isn’t always effective. In fact, sales of the Old Spice body wash (the product the videos promote) have actually dropped since the launch of the viral video advertising campaign. Though it’s not good news if your man, in fact, could use the nice scent of the product! However, viral video advertising is something that we all need to be aware of as we try, in the effort to become a conscious postconsumer and find the satisfaction of enough, to be more diligent about the media messages that we receive and whether they are good for us.
