Fake Guinness Viral Advertisement

Did you see the fake Guinness viral ad? The one with the naked lady doing goodness alone knows what underneath a bottle of Guinness? If you haven’t, it’s too late, because Diageo have made YouTube remove it from their site. I’m not surprised.

Although it was free advertising for Guinness, it wasn’t at all consistent with the Guinness brand values. Whilst 50% of the population (that’s not the female half) I'm sure thought it hilarious, its overtly sexy and sexist content seemed more suited to a Castlemain 4X Aussie commercial - with all its sophisticated humour. The Guinness advertising has always been wholesome, intelligent and stylish. Consistently wholesome, intelligent and stylish: which is why Guinness is a valuable brand that Diageo rightly want to protect.

Great marketing is a good deal more than a fun idea and a camcorder – although at times it doesn’t look that way. That’s the real beauty in something as complex as a world-beating brand – when you get to see the finished result it looks like a 16 year old could have done it.

But they didn’t.