Is it necessary to mock attorneys in order to promote a product? Particularly, if the product being promoted belongs to one of the world’s biggest companies with — presumably — a substantial marketing budget?
According to Law.com, Coca-Cola has started a viral marketing program on YouTube that rests entirely on the backs of its own attorneys. The marketing mavens at Coke decided it would be cute to “pull a Borat” or “punk” their own in-house counsel, propositioning several of them with a request from some Coke employees to sue their own company for a perceived grievance that one Coke product tastes too much like another Coke product.
The “creativity” comes at the expense of the attorneys who are notably flumoxed by the idiocy of the requests.
Watch for yourself:
Obviously, making fun of lawyers is what’s driving this program. Commentators question whether or not this is a bad thing since the reluctant stars of these videos all conduct themselves with professionalism and earnestness in the face of lunacy.
But does the mere fact that the powers-that-be in Atlanta approved a marketing program based upon such sophomoric humor indicate that those who drink Coke’s products are sophomoric?
Or does the fact that the bloggers are discussing this evidence the success of the campaign?
