Controversial viral case: Denmark Tourism
Espen from our Norwegian office just sent me this viral. Apparently, this video of a mom looking for the father of her baby son is just a ruse by the danish tourism board to create awareness for Denmark and the openness of the people there. The video was watched over 1 million times and is said to be the most successful danish viral.
To be honest, if I was one of the 1+ million people who have watched this video, or worse, if I had been one of the many people commenting on her video, wishing her luck, I would be quite pissed off now and feel like someone who was played with. The video is pretty convincing and to use a story of a mother looking for her baby’s father might be questionable to some.
Sure, the video created awareness, but at what price? The price is abusing people’s heart-felt sympathy for someone who they thought was real. I am not sure if this strategy really works. If the idea was to show how open Denmark is, does openness also mean tricking people?
Then again, the strategy might work in an unintended way: in some cultures, the message might now be that Danish women are promiscuous. So the effect might actually be that droves of men will visit in Denmark. I doubt that was the goal.
UPDATE: looks like the video was removed, just 1 day after the truth came out. Apparently some people did take offense. Another case of “I told you so” You can still watch it here: http://adland.tv/commercials/karen26-karen-denmark-seeking-augusts-father-2009-denmark
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Alexander Wipf
Head of Strategy at Leo Burnett Frankfurt
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The video has been removed from youtube. You can see it here; (and why) #Karen26 - Karen in Denmark seeking August’s father - (2009) (Denmark)
http://adland.tv/node/148252
My previous post yesterday summed the hubub up best I could;
September 14th, 2009 at 2:34 pmhttp://adland.tv/content/karen-danish-mother-seeking-actually-ditte-arnth
Totally agree with you Alexander. Not impressed with the idea and I do feel that I have been played.
I did forward the link trying to help the poor sweetheart who actually appears to be a Danish actress according to a Danish friend of mine. The Danish Tourist Board still hasn’t come up with a story / movie to follow this one, so I just don’t see the point. All it tells me is that next time I visit Denmark I’m very likely to get lucky on the first night. Not the point of the exercise, I think.
If the viral had come from Durex, I would have understood. But the Danish Tourist Board, and nothing to follow up? Kind of lame, I think.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:13 pm