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As soon as YouTube’s popularity exploded, advertisers realized that with the right approach, viral videos could be used as powerful marketing tools. But as some companies set out to make witty little clips that made people interested in their company, others produced more controversial videos that tested the trust of the viewing public. With the emergence of viral video campaigns like LonelyGirl15, internet users quickly realized that not every viral video on the internet is legitimate (something they should have already known) and placed the seeds of distrust into their heads.

After this skepticism was born, marketers wondered if their viral videos would have the same impact as before and if the general public would trust what they had to say. With so many over the top viral videos that are legitimate, some people think that the fake ones will be taken with a grain of salt by the YouTube Masses and others think that the legitimacy of viral videos will eventually be damaged for everyone. No matter what the outcome, the illegitimacy often becomes a bigger issue than the message of the viral video itself so it seems that deceitful viral video marketing ploys will continue to draw negative attention.

But isn’t attention the whole point of viral video marketing? Do these companies relish any type of attention whether it is good or bad? Producing a video clip and passing it off as a user created video isn’t a crime, yet, as long as the video is entertaining people are going to watch it, whether it is a tricky marketing ploy or not. Even after these deceitful videos were released people still flocked to You Tube to watch them and people still talked, even if it was about them having a hidden advertising agenda.

The best examples of viral videos that were at least in some part deceiving are of course the whole LonelyGirl15 hoax, and the “bride has massive hair wig out” video that was revealed to be affiliated with Sunsilk. Similar marketing ploys through blogs were deceivingly created by Sony to hype its Playstation Portable and by Working Families for Wal-Mart, both of which were presented a legitimate user created blogs that were later exposed by suspicious readers as just another way to drum up business. It seems like a good idea at first, but internet users are not all so easily fooled and eventually these fake marketing tricks are exposed.

It seems like it is only a matter of time before the tricky videos that exploit our trust of viral videos will make the viewing public weary of even legitimate viral videos. Will we eventually become immune to this new form of advertising and pass it off as just another way to build hype, or will we continue to watch in awe and visit the websites that viral videos prompt us to? One thing is for sure, no one can resist a really funny video and disgruntled office workers everywhere will always be looking for the next big internet trend to waste time on.