SMOKE RING THREATENS TO CHOKE "YOU TUBE"

With laws tightening around what you can advertise to whom, where you can advertise it and when, the accusation that tobacco companies are using You Tube as a subversive way to pitch their products to youngsters should come as no surprise.

But the idea that booze and butts companies will be using You Tube and other UGC sites to glamourise their products 'under the radar' could open up a world of pain for owners Google (who are already under pressure to legitimise their new purchase by ensuring each and every submission falls on the right side of copyright laws).

Sydney University professor Simon Chapman says that in order to attract youngsters to the habit, tobacco giants have posted videos on the site showing attractive women smoking. Cigarette companies have denied the claims. I've pasted two links below. Take a look.

Four girls each smoking two cigarettes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ZIJikVqmQ

Lilly and Natalya smoking 2 cigarettes at once
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iYvh6kSYBE&mode=related&search=

Kind of random. Kind of bizarre. But isn't that why You Tube's so attractive? It's a diffficult claim to prove.

Nevertheless, todays accusations have got You Tube downloaders questioning the validity of some of the site's most famous uploads. Take the guys who performed the playground science experiment with a bottle of Coke and a pack of Mentos. Who are we to say they're not the Mentos marketing boys masquerading as You Tube Yoof? And what about the TV celeb and the labrador ... no, sorry, that's another site ... you see, You Tube already has a taste and decency policy (only now it tastes of stale fags).

Regardless of whether you're with Prof. Chapman or whether you think he's smoking something, there's no doubt that as traditional marketing mediums fall victim to the 21st century digital revolution, You Tube and similar sites are becoming the battleground for the hearts and minds of the connected generation.

But if the viral vultures get too heavily engaged with You Tube, it's in danger of becoming nothing more than a site for navel-gazing marketeers, pulling off statistics about the number of hits their latest black ops campaign has achieved. Little do they realise that the only people left accessing their films are the marketing teams of the competition ... the smart kids have left the building .