Blue Helm

Apparently, Hitler likes the 1982 Disney film, Tron.

I’ll admit that I liked a lot of the videos on YouTube parodying Hitler in the the 2004 film, Downfall. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something hilarious about one of world’s most villainous tyrants throwing a hissy fit over banal pop culture events such as Tiger Woods’ affair, Susan Boyle and the Twilight DVD.

But, as many of you savvy news junkies out there already know, the film’s distributor, Constantin Film, asked YouTube to remove all Downfall parodies from the site. Many are still up, but it irks me that such a large film production company (or any company) is so completely dim that it would attempt to kill all viral content celebrating one of its products. Sure the videos are parodies, but they still have the potential of driving thousands of people to watch the original clip, if not the original film. How, in this Viral Age, can companies still think they can censor or destroy user-generated content online?

Corynne McSherry, an attorney specializing in intellectual property and free speech issues, has already said that the parodies constitute fair use and aren’t infringing on any copyrighted material. It’s satire, which is protected speech. But regardless, Constantin Film should be embracing the free attention its film is getting from this huge online phenomenon. Don’t bight the hand that feeds you.

Needless to say, Hitler is not happy.

Coca-Cola’s new “Happiness Machine” video is viral genius, plain and simple. Released earlier this month, it topped one million YouTube views this week, and was almost entirely shared through social networks like Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

Social media and viral marketing is about people, not products. Coca-Cola gets that, and successfully produced a compelling, entertaining and human campaign that connects with the consumer in a deeper, more memorable way than a traditional advertisement might. Ravi Sawhney said it perfectly in his Fast Company blog post yesterday:

“How can designers create these special moments–this magic? And not just ‘viral video’ magic, but that everyday life magic of the emotional connection that bonds people with your brand. Can we conceive of the complete story and lead people down a path of creating smiles?”

If your social media campaigns aren’t cultivating inspiration, motivation and smiles, you’re probably doing something wrong.

Thank you, American Idol, for providing us with yet another opportunity to watch awful (yet strangely awesome) YouTube videos of your aspiring singers. I thought William Hung was unstoppable, or maybe these guys. But Wednesday night’s episode of Idol proved to all of us that the viral power of America’s most popular television show remains in force.

The night this piece aired, “Pants on the Ground” had already made it into the top ten Twitter trending topics (try saying that five times fast). And yesterday morning, the song had stolen three spots on the same Twitter list. That’s very rare. But thanks to General Larry Platt’s catchy tune and hot dance moves, this video became viral within seconds of its airing on national television. Mashable put it nicely yesterday in a blog post: “Paula’s gone and Simon has one foot out the door, but nine seasons in, American Idol can still be counted on to deliver viral video gold.”

UPDATE: The best online covers to “Pants on the Ground” can be found here. Grunge, acoustic and, of course, Neil Diamond. Bravo!