ReveNews
Snakes, Shoes and Aston Martins
Want to be like Kobe Bryant? Well, don a pair of Hyperdunks by Nike.
Want to have millions of viewers spread word of a video for you? Then have the reigning NBA MVP jump an Aston Martin.
But here’s a note. Don’t make the video too slick. Make it look raw. Make it look like Kobe just happens to have decided to go up to the roof of a parking lot with fellow Laker Ronny Turiaf, video camera in tow, and with reckless flamboyance jump a moving car.
For an encore have the man nicknamed the Black Mamba team up with the Jackass crew. This new video shows Jackass regulars like Chris Pontius (Wildboyz tv show) and Jason Acuna along with Kobe Bryant playing around a pool of snakes. And yes, eventually after various Jackass members dive in Kobe jumps the pool to make a dunk.
Of course these videos are viral marketing gold. The Aston Martin video has spawned over 3.5 million views with the Snake Pool video garnering a healthy 200,000 views in three days. What truly makes these videos great is that even non-basketball fans are debating what’s real and what’s Hollywood. That debate has created an exquisite amount of buzz. Like any good viral video there were spoofs spawned of the car trick but thankfully no one to date has actually gotten hurt trying to actually jump a moving car.
Therein lies the inevitable controversy of the social responsibility of the media creator. It is an old debate that stretches from cartoons to video games. Will kids imitate what they see on Youtube? Maybe. Personally I feel it is the role of adults in a community to help educate youngsters as to what is realty and what is made for Youtube. What is great about the social media form is that the community can serve to help decipher that question.
As Kobe glibly responded in a courtside interview, “If Rambo can take on a whole army, I can jump an Aston Martin.”
So wear the shoes if you think it will help your game, but please don’t try this at home.
*****************************************************************
Haven’t seen the videos in question yet? See below:
Aston Martin:
Snakes in a Pool:
Do you remember the Corvette “Dream” commercial that was banned because parents thought it was dangerous to show a kid dreaming about driving a Corvette and doing dangerous stunts?
I’m amazed that Chevy gets creamed over this and Nike has not had as much trouble. Maybe Chevy should have released the commercials to YouTube instead of broadcast TV?
Great piece of marketing. Kobe did do the mandatory legal CYA at the end of the Aston Martin jump. Seems a bit silly to have to do that though as it’s usually the most obvious things that end up with the disclaimer. Maybe they should start saying it on the evening news.
So Angel can we expect to see a video of you jumping over 9 cats anytime soon?