Old Spice: On a Horse, Backwards [Video]

Old Spice commercial still.

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Hello, ladies. Look at your blog. Now back to me. Now back to your blog. Now back to me.

If you don’t know what I’m referring to, go watch these two short videos right now (or at least before your weekend BBQs):

 

There are 87+ (!!) more surreal, personalized video responses produced in two days by the Old Spice marketing mandarins in real-time response to Twitter questions posed to Old Spice guy. Today my RSS reader overfloweth with serious, thought-provoking analysis of this short, playful “video popcorn” use of social media. My big takeaway from Mashable, The Atlantic, Snark Market, and Boing Boing: Can you imagine if the Red Cross or PETA emulated this style of campaign? Why leave dadaist social media humor—especially dadaist social media humor that successfully sells ideas—to the makers of deodorant?

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We were built for times like these

Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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