GM's Marketing Ad Turns On It's Head

The idea of launching a viral marketing campaign by allowing users to generate content for your site isn't new. In fact, the Apple iPod commercial created by iPod fan George Masters is already a legend when it comes to the concept of letting your customers market your product.


General Motors or GM, the world's largest automaker that employs about 325,000 people did not have such success in their chevy tahoe campaign. In fact, GM is quickly becoming an example of viral marketing gone wild. Over the weekend, hundreds of people used the Internet to circulate thousands of videos that charged GM with contributing to global warming, protested the war in Iraq or just demeaned the Tahoe's quality.

While consumer generated content can be a fantastic way to let your customers spread the word about your product, the GM incident also shows just how dangerous and damaging a bad viral marketing campaign can be.