I can’t really not blog about this, but won’t embed the video, you can find it at Boocompany, but be warned: This is a horror clip and should not be watched. At all.
So, the German Facebook-clone StudiVZ, bought by publishing house Holtzbrinck in January for approx. 100m Euro , has launched a “viral campaign” with three spots. The spots are supposedly based on exisisting StudiVZ groups, the spot on the Boocompany-site e.g. references to a group called “Vegetarians eat my food’s food” and portray a group of men who are violating vegatarian restaurants, and this is to be taken literally. I have yet to see this much human-to-human violance in an advertising – how this made it past the marketing execs is beyond any comprehension. And even if I were 18 years old, this spot isn’t even funny. The snuff factor is just abominable. Interestingly, the spot was produced by a big German agency, Aimaq Rapp Stolle, who also works for Ferrero, Hülsta, and Simyo.
I’d be surprised if this campaign has no consequences, stay tuned.
(Sources: Werbeblogger, Boocompany1, Boocompany2, Off the record, Focus)
Technorati Tags: studivz, holtzbrinck, viral, horror