Raphael, at Serious Eats, has just informed me that the word is out regarding who was behind the viral Cellphone Popcorn videos. The answer: Cardo Systems, who make BlueTooth headsets.

In my post speculating who was behind these videos, I wrote:

Perhaps this is a bizarre way to advertise for a new low-radiation cell phone?

While not 100% accurate, my guess (admittedly, one of several) was in the general ballpark….the ads were not for a low-radiation cell phone maker, but rather for Bluetooth headsets that claim to “reduce power output by 99%”

The operators of the YouTube account that posted these videos have updated the titles of the video to add the words “made by Cardo Systems.” Their website also now features a page with a new promo for their products and noting that their videos received over 4 million views.

Well played Cardo Systems, well played.


8 Responses

  1. Hanan Cohen

    Badly played, Cardo Systems!

    I run the Israeli/Hebrew equivalent of snopes.com

    Those videos had spread even to Israel. People are really scared and have asked me if this is true.

    Cardo is building on the fact that people are scared from technology in general and specifically from cellphone radiation.

    Marketing, even gonzo marketing, should be socially responsible.

    The spreading if those videos will not stop even when the makers are known and someone have written somewhere this is a hoax.

    Reply
  2. Eick

    Yep, you raise a very valid point about the “scare message” in these ads. Well played in a viral “attract eyes to my product” sense, perhaps not in the socially responsible sense.

    Reply

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