If Gatorade’s ‘Ball Girl’ Ad Is Good Viral Video, Let There Be a Cure

The folks who market the sports drink Gatorade duped my friends and me on Facebook this week.

We were dazzled by a year-old clip showing a ball girl making Spider-Man-like moves up an outfield wall to catch a foul ball during a minor league game. We shared the video with our friends, celebrating the ball girl’s amazing feat and making comments such as “that rocks” and “great video.”

Then, a couple of days later someone pointed out we had been hoodwinked. The video is an ad to promote Gatorade. It was shot using a stunt woman attached to wires. The campaign, according to Snopes.com, was created by Element 79, a Chicago ad agency that also makes commercials for Amway.

Gatorade told the media it had shelved the ad and has no idea how it got posted on the Web. But with more than 2 million views on YouTube and many more on sites such as Facebook, the company is not complaining.

“This has all been a pleasant surprise, so why not let it happen?” Gatorade spokeswoman Jill Kinney is quoted as saying.

Unless you’re in the business of selling lies, you should be worried, Gatorade. There is no mention of your product during the video and, near the end of the clip, a bottle of Gatorade briefly appears next to the chair where the ball girl is sitting. We missed the subtle product placement.

Authenticity matters in the social media world, and the Gatorade brand just took a hit. There’s nothing wrong with making a viral video that uses digital wizardry to get people buzzing about your product. But be up front about what you were doing, and get noticed for being clever, not for being misleading.

Have you seen any other examples of misleading corporate viral videos? What are the best examples of companies using viral videos to reach the public?

Tags: content strategy, Social Media, social networking, viral video, web 2.0

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 12:33 am and is filed under Content Strategy, Social Media.

4 Responses to “If Gatorade’s ‘Ball Girl’ Ad Is Good Viral Video, Let There Be a Cure”

1. Carolyn Jung says:

   December 3, 2009 at 8:45 am

   Ahh, never a good thing for a corporation to dupe consumers, even if it’s only in a fun video. Gatorade should have known better.
2. flashy Mc loop says:

   December 3, 2009 at 7:11 pm

   Im searching for sites related to this. Glad I found you. Thanks
3. thatflash says:

   December 9, 2009 at 6:30 pm

   Ive been researching this and I’ll have to agree
4. Breadfan says:

   December 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm

   best article I read about this yet!