This week, after hunting for a while, I hit upon the idea of Eva Mendes. Not because she is beautiful or famous, but because she starred in an Internet advert which punctuated my mood at the time (the Internet in all its vastness, can make one obsessive about finding things).

Eva recently starred in a Calvin Klein campaign for the “Obsession” fragrance. Subsequently, the advert was banned. Why? For one-tenth of a second, Eva happens to flaunt a patch of flesh that shouldn’t be seen on daytime TV. Consider this your explicit content warning.

I bring this up not because I am obsessive about certain things, but because the moment the advert was pulled, nine videos of it were posted on YouTube. All had catchy titles, most with the word “banned” in them. Some even referred to the news network that reported the banning.  

Don’t get me wrong. Eva is suitably sultry (and, truth be told, possibly a little drugged) as she writhes semi-naked across the sheets. But is the ad worth the view count it received? The content itself, while tasteful and beautifully done, doesn’t seem to be the sole reason for its success.

This ad seems to have naturally found a solid strategy to get itself viewed:

• It featured a hot female celebrity and some borderline nudity
• It was unavailable in mainstream media (people hate the thought of being denied something, especially on the Internet)
• It got ordinary people involved in its dissemination
• It was short, to the point and branded
• It was billed as something newsworthy by being labeled as an exclusive ‘find’
• Most people had already made the decision to give it a good rating before they even watched the video itself

The point is that, whether by chance or careful planning, some really average ads get viewed a million times. Other, better ones barely scrape 50 000 views. Eva’s clip illustrates that perhaps there is a way to optimise viewings on a YouTube viral, barring the use of obsessive planning.