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Viral marketing hoax. Smart or stupid?

So. You may have read in the weekend papers about the girl who was trying to find the guy who left his jacket in a cafe. She made a youtube video to try and find him and it was sent to the media who immediately raised alarm bells about the veracity of her claims, suggesting it was a viral marketing campaign for the launch of a new men’s fashion label. She denied the accusation vehemently, insisting she was just looking for love with the guy in the jacket. If you watch the video below, you can tell straight away it’s dodgy. Her performance is stilted and her BEDROOM IS FAR TOO NEAT. No one makes their bed like that in real life. Clearly, it’s all a set-up.
And now it’s been revealed as exactly that. Witchery are launching a new men’s line of jackets and hired Jonathon Pease’s company Naked, to come up with a viral campaign to promote it. I’d say they did their job admirably. It’s a smart idea and they pulled an avalanche of free publicity. But now is there a backlash? Do you feel duped? I find it hard to care, myself.

Fairfax reports today

THE website of a girl’s romantic quest to find her Prince Charming –
a mystery man in a jacket – has been removed after it was unmasked as a
fake, leading to a barrage of complaints by internet users.

Fashion
retailer Witchery and its advertising agency suspended the “girl in a
jacket” website yesterday afternoon, although the video remained online
following negative comments from YouTube users, after the
Herald revealed it was an ad masquerading as a genuine appeal.

“Heidi”
is not a real person, but a model who starred in Witchery’s
spring-summer 2007 campaign, according to one of the retailer’s
employees.

Another video, which was posted by Tourism Queensland
purportedly showing a woman who tattooed an ad for the Great Barrier
Reef on her arm to win a dream island job, has been exposed as an
employee of its advertising agency. That video has also been removed
and Tourism Queensland has apologised for deceiving the public.

Despite
the potential damage such exposure might wreak on the brands, marketing
experts agree that companies will continue to use popular sites such as
YouTube for their marketing. Only in future they will tread more
carefully, said expert Tim Burrowes of mumbrella.com.au, who exposed
the tourism video as a hoax. “What we are seeing here is an evolving
etiquette of the web. Some get it, some don’t.”