Viral

[The Wooster]

Viral

A Versatile Sugar Substitute

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[Pandora92]

I loved the little "Give me sugar" note, it was a nice touch.

 

[Kargathia]

Marketing people, on the other hand, hate it when a customer comes up to them, and asks them "to make a viral ad".

 

[Evil Smurf]

if you collect all the bags of sugar you get a free murder!

 

[crystalsnow]

Now with 50% less life expectancy.

 

[Shinsei-J]

I've been laughing since I read it.
Good job.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Greenday isn't proper punk...

Punk was a lot more raw... and had infinitely less ballads!

 

[Impluse_101]

Viral

A Versatile Sugar Substitute

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I'm sorry, but this marketing campaign sounds more like a job for Splendorman.

 

[TotallyTroll]

Aspartame breaks down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, & methanol in case anyone was wondering. It will kill you. Slowly, over time, but as surely as you breath.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

The cost of that bag of sugar he asks? Probably $20.
Fitting use of a generally creepy thing to sell things, advertisements usually being somewhere in the uncanny valley anyway. No one acts like the people I see in commercials, as far as I know.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Aspartame breaks down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, & methanol in case anyone was wondering. It will kill you. Slowly, over time, but as surely as you breath.

How aptly named.

Metabolites

Hypotheses of adverse health effects have focused on the three metabolites of aspartame, which are aspartic acid, methanol and phenylalanine. Aspartame is rapidly hydrolyzed in the small intestines. Even with ingestion of very high doses of aspartame (over 200 mg/kg), no aspartame is found in the blood due to the rapid breakdown.[8] These metabolites have been studied in a wide range of populations including infants, children, adolescents, and healthy adults. In healthy adults and children, even enormous doses of aspartame do not lead to plasma levels of metabolites that are a concern for safety.

Aspartate

Aspartic acid (aspartate) is one of the most common amino acids in the typical diet but nevertheless has been implicated as a possible source for neurotoxic effects of aspartame. As with methanol and phenylalanine, intake of aspartic acid from aspartame is less than would be expected from other dietary sources. At the 90th percentile of intake, aspartame provides only between 1% and 2% of the daily intake of aspartic acid. There has been some speculation that aspartame, in conjunction with other amino acids like glutamate, may lead to excitotoxicity, inflicting damage on brain and nerve cells. However, clinical studies have shown no signs of neurotoxic effects,[8] and studies of metabolism suggests it is not possible to ingest enough aspartic acid and glutamate through food and drink to levels that would be expected to be toxic.[61]

Methanol

The methanol produced by the metabolism of aspartame is absorbed and quickly converted into formaldehyde and then completely converted to formic acid, which, due to its long half life, is considered the primary mechanism of toxicity in methanol poisoning. The methanol from aspartame is unlikely to be a safety concern for several reasons. The amount of methanol in aspartame is less than that found in fruit juices and citrus fruits, and there are other dietary sources for methanol such as fermented beverages. Therefore, the amount of methanol produced from aspartame is likely to be less than that from natural sources. With regards to formaldehyde, it is rapidly converted in the body, and the amounts of formaldehyde from the metabolism of aspartame is trivial when compared to the amounts produced routinely by the human body and from other foods and drugs. At the highest expected human doses of consumption of aspartame, there are no increased blood levels of methanol or formic acid,[8] and ingesting aspartame at the 90th percentile of intake would produce 25 times less methanol than would be considered toxic.[61]

Phenylalanine

People with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria are advised to avoid aspartame as they have a decreased ability to metabolize phenylalanine. Common foods such as milk, meat, and fruits provide far greater amounts of these metabolites in a diet than aspartame.[61]
Phenylalanine is one of the essential amino acids and is required for normal growth and maintenance of life. Concerns about the safety of phenylalanine from aspartame center largely around hypothetical changes in neurotransmitter levels as well as ratios of neurotransmitters to each other in the blood and brain that could lead to neurological symptoms. Reviews of the literature have found no consistent findings to support such concerns,[61] and while high doses of aspartame consumption may have some biochemical effects, these effects are not seen in toxicity studies to suggest aspartame can adversely affect neuronal function.[8] Like methanol, the typical diet will lead to ingestion of significantly higher amounts of phenylalanine than would be expected from aspartame consumption.[61]

Maybe not enough for a formal paper, but I'll take a well cited wikipedia page over a youtube video any day of the week.

 

[Dafttechno]

The only deliberate attempt at viral marketing I can think of that worked well is Blendtec's Will it Blend series.

 

[kajinking]

Ok the fake viral marketing thing is bad but at least Freddie View made a decent AD and was completely upfront with him saying EA told and paid him to make it so everyone knew it wasn't meant to be underground and viral unlike a few college humor videos I can think of. And second, HAVE YOU SEEN REGULAR ADS LATELY?!? (Yes I know caps lock) but dear god the hole Dead Space 2 thing and now Sonic promoting Insurace on Youtube!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kru8ZaC5Wfs

(Yeah I don't even know what to say about this at this point)

 

[Toasty Virus]

I love Green Day, but they're far from the best punk band around. They're not even really proper punk, probably closer to Pop-punk than anything else.

OT: The "Give me Sugar" note gave me a good chuckle.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

The only deliberate attempt at viral marketing I can think of that worked well is Blendtec's Will it Blend series.

Hello, Dafttecho. Look at your comment. Now back to mine. Now back to your comment. Now back to mine. Sadly, it isn't mine, but if it stopped ignoring one of the most prolific viral ads in recent years and started remembering Old Spice, it could seem like mine.

OT: It's a joy to see people are finally taking the piss out of slenderman. Yes, the game is terrifying, but I'm disappointed that the internet is not yet blanketed with tired memes and rule 34's yet.

 

[TotallyTroll]

Maybe not enough for a formal paper, but I'll take a well cited wikipedia page over a youtube video any day of the week.

Hmmm... A video i doubt you watched for one.
If you are forming potentially life threatening opinions from Wikipedia articles then you probably deserve what you get.

Despite the nature of the blurbs, they did not lie (they are just highly evasive). I think the key parts to pay attention to are where they talk about the components being absorbed. The methanol formed is fundamentally different than natural sources & there is no safe threshold at which to consume methanol. It is Bio-accumulative and will cause you to go blind.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Give me Sugar note. Perfect. Can't be said enough.

I think some people would try this kind of thing.

I know what will be next. Jeff the killer, selling sleeping medications!

GO. TO. Sleep....

 

[DaRigger420]

These ads keep cropping up more and more. Items like the updating billboards in race games that change with periodic uploads from the company to the stupid captcha boxes that play laundry detergent jingles are going too far. Soon the marketing firms are going to try to beam the info right into your mind. Just think, you are asleep, having a great dream. Suddenly there is a commercial "This dream brought to you by the makers of (insert product here). The only product to blah blah blah blah" We get it marketing companies, you are paid to push products. All we ask is that you stop trying to make cool trendy tie-ins with and changes to the products that we have purchased to get away from it all and have some fun.

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