Abstract

This paper investigates opportunistic use of loopholes in current UK advertising regulations to target young opinion formers with divergent online viral advertising. In describing viral advertising and its propensity to target affluent social networks it further inquires into ethically dubious advertising strategies that brands increasingly disown, although potentially continuing to fund and pay for. In discussion of viral advertising tactics, this paper elucidates divergent strategies of creativity employed by agencies. Highlighting the lineage from shock advertising to viral advertising, it contextualises this within romanticist notions of genius and the artist as maverick. It further highlights visceral and grotesque tendencies within viral advertising, contextualising these within post-modern theorisation of ‘rewind and replay’ culture, and consumption of viral advertising as an aid to fashioning online identities within online peer groups.