The Super Bowl may have ended but the inevitable advertising furore has ensued; flooding YouTube and Twitter with links galore following the successes of old favourites like Old Spice and a clever campaign from Oreo who even responded to the blackout with a nice bit of savvy tweeting - "You can eat them in the dark".
VW followed up their wildly successful Darth Child advert from last year with an ad showing a Volkswagon driver affecting a Jamaican accent and exuding the type of island charm and relaxed approach to life that only the tropics, or a ride in a new VW can bring you.
Of course the response from the viewers was inevitable with certain commentators taking issue with the apparent racist overtones of the affected accent of the white protagonist along with the insinuation that all Jamaicans are "laid back and chill".
Thankfully, East London's choice beer brand Red Stripe have taken time out from turning shops into musical instruments to 'make a call' on the VW ad. In a response film we see a Jamaican NFL video referee taking a look at the offending ad before declaring it "Not offensive...happiness is always in play man". So there you have it, no need to get angry with the commercial YouTube commentators.
The Red Stripe film hasn't exactly picked up the shares, let alone gone 'viral' but it's quick thinking like this from brands, coupled with a great sense of humour that really shows off the way YouTube and online video can be used to great effect. Viewer engagement is key to the success of any piece of video marketing but to have another brand get involved with your campaign in a totally non-cynical way is a great example of how the Internet and social media platforms can be used for good.
The Internet is an incredibly opinionated place and perhaps nowhere more so than YouTube, with comments sections regularly filling up with people spouting various uninformed opinions along with the genuinely spiteful and of course the infamous troll community. We definitely need to see more brands with a sense of humour stepping up like this in the future.