Post: Lonelygirl15: The Authentic Fake
Lonelygirl15: The Authentic Fake
YPulse publisher Anastasia Goodstein gives her take on Lonelygirl15, the YouTube phenom who turned out to be a struggling actress playing a part. Read her editorial, then post your own opinion below.
Yesterday a trade journalist asked me what I thought the implications of Lonelygirl15 would be for marketers, brands, etc. who are eager to jump into the social media space to reach young people. I thought I would share my response and see if you all agree or disagree.
In many ways Lonelygirl15 is no different from any sort of breakout video on the web that goes viral or gets hugely popular (think SNL's Lazy Sunday or Numa Numa). It's part luck and part just being compelling in some way to an Internet audience. I say this because I don't think brands can just recreate this phenomenon. With Lonelygirl15, it was a mixture of having an attractive yet believable teen girl that people were relating to, an interesting and mysterious storyline (religious parents, homeschooling, satanism?) and then the intrigue over whether it was real or not. But for all of that to even catch the media's attention it had to blow up on YouTube first. This is something you can't just orchestrate.
I also think a lot of people were upset she was a fake -- call them YouTube haters (i.e. the anonymous commenters on YouTube who unleashed their vitrol). People don't like being tricked. Some of her fans were OK with it, but it's always risky to present something as real when it's not. I think if there was a big brand behind her like Coke or P&G, people would have been way more upset. The fact that it was "indie filmmakers on a very small budget" vs. "the Hollywood marketing machine" made a difference in terms of how big the backlash was.
So I don't think that brands can manufacture this phenomenon without looking like copycats or like they are just trying too hard. Secret got some blowback on blogs when they appropriated Post Secret's concept (a blog where people send in their secrets on post cards) as an ad campaign. Now -- that was blowback from a tiny but influential technorati type crowd that knows what Post Secret is. The campaign may be doing fine on TV and even on teen Web sites -- I don't know. I do think if brands find an organic UGC (user generated content) star, they can and should offer to sponsor their page or vlog and pay them for it :). Look at Emo Girl, who is sponsored by Nature's Cure and Go Daddy.
Published by Anastasia Goodstein, Ypulse provides daily news & commentary about Generation Y for media and marketing professionals.
There are 1 replies to this post
Date: September 21, 2006
I totally agree: at least she was a product of indie guys trying to tell a story. I can't believe that anyone is shocked by this kind of stuff anymore.