In my last post, there is a video towards the bottom about Hitler reacting to the Trololo man. There are probably hundreds of these Hitler reactions to current events out there. And sadly for all of us Hitler Parody fans, the time may have come to say goodbye.
Hitler is not very happy about these parodies. (No doubt this one about Hitler reacting to all the parodies out there will eventually get pulled, but enjoy for now).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqqxRPZdfvs[/youtube]
I always wondered about these parodies. Apparently, as I read at Pop Eater, these clips come from a movie made in 2004 called Downfall. Constantin Films is claiming copy right and is headed on a mission to pull every last one of them.
From a marketing standpoint, this is a HORRIBLE move. There is obviously a fanbase out there of people who relate to this meme. And not only that, it appears to be driving traffic back to the original movie! What more could you want?
Another great example, Google’s super bowl ad (in case you haven’t seen it by now). But what they did was created a template for anyone to make their own Google search story. Here is the one I made for my company [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVKTd-sAHm0[/youtube] Mine is for sure on the safer side, but some of these get pretty crazy. (Browse through some of them or make your own at the Google Search Story site)
So instead of destroying the comedic aspect of it and ridding the world of all the great parodies, I say embrace them. Let the parodies run wild, but the trick is to get them to link back to you recognizing you as the original. That is really the only tricky part. And yes, it can be hard for a company to suck up their pride, but the pay off could be awesome.