The Evolution of Video Spoofery
Check out this parody of the Dove spot on the evolution of beauty. We came to it via Giovanni Rodriguez, who writes, “Prediction: the mockummercial will become a big thing next year, as more and more marketers get the inspiration to taunt their competitors via YouTube with nicely produced parodies of popular commercials.”
Rodriguez points out that the inherent inexplicit nature of parody makes it unclear who is the target of “Evolution of a Slob” — Dove, or ugly people? That’s an increasing problem as web video matures; imitations can be confusing and occasionally even deceptive. (Eye of beholder issues and so on.)
For instance, Kevin Burton of Tailrank got quite riled up tonight about a spoof video news site put together by a compliance company called BigFix in some kind of misguided viral advertising campaign. The site does have a spoof disclaimer tucked away at the bottom of the page, but in ads and posts on sites like Digg that send in visitors, there’s no such warning.
We’re don’t think it would be effective or feasible to actively police such mislabeling; let’s just hope the stuff that’s actually witty rises to the top.
Sponsor Gallery
Recent
GigaOM Network
- iTunes Updates: DRM-Free, New Pricing, and Availability On Cellular Networks [TheAppleBlog]
- Arrived in Vegas- check out the jkOnTheRun double-wide! [jkOnTheRun]
- iMovie ‘09: Improved Editing, Maps & Stabilization [TheAppleBlog]
- Artful Americans Dave & Tom Score Big With Brit Banter [NewTeeVee]
- SundaySky Raises $8 Million [NewTeeVee]
GigaOM Jobs Feed
- IT Product Manager/Architect at Orange Labs SF (aka France Telecom R&D, LLC (South San Francisco, California)
- Principal IP Network Architect at Orange Labs SF (aka France Telecom R&D, LLC) (South San Francisco, California)
- Senior IP Network Architect at Orange Labs SF (aka France Telecom R&D, LLC (South San Francisco, California)
- Software Engineer - Home Group at Orange Labs SF (aka France Telecom R&D, LLC) (South San Francisco, California)
- Software Engineer at Orange Labs SF (aka France Telecom R&D, LLC) (South San Francisco, California)
© 2009 The GigaOM Network. Powered by WordPress.com. Marketing consulting by ACS.

Typo at the bottom of the page.
Anyway. I wonder if the FTC would have a sense of humor about this parody?
Might be time to contact them.
Kevin
Kevin Burton on December 17th, 2006 at 12:31 pm - Permalink
[...] from TuffSheet’s Campaign Against Real Life, Dove Evolution campaign parody Slob Evolution (previous coverage), earned a nomination in the comedy category. Oh, the irony of the television industry honoring a [...]
NewTeeVee » Friday Vid Picks: Emmy Nominees on June 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm - Permalink