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According to a speech Matt Harding gave at a convention in California, infamous viral video Where the Hell is Matt (2008)? was actually a big-budget viral marketing campaign.

"What a bunch of suckers," he said of the millions of people who watched and believed it. But in my opinion, the only suckers are the ones who believed him when he said it was a fake. I think that at best, it's totally real, at OK, parts of it are fake, and at worst, it's a hoax -- but not the kind of hoax he's telling us it is. At worst it's some sort of double, triple or even quadruple hoax, the kind of hoax that's been performed in practice, but never successfully in competition.



Anyway, here are the reasons I think Matt is joking, but you guys should also tell us what you think because I bet your reasons are even better.

  • 1) He sounds like he's joking.
  • 2) Viral marketing campaigns don't have big budgets and anyway, the only way this would need a "big budget" is if it were faked. People take trips around the world all the time. Are they cheap? Probably not. But do they cost more than a brand new luxury sedan? Again, probably not.
  • 3) The thing about the animatronic dancers sounds totally bogus. Also, I have a feeling that one of those robots would cost more than his entire trip.
  • 4) Announcing that TIME Magazine's Number 1 Viral Video of the Year is fake at some industry conference in Monterrey, California is just lame. If you were Matt, wouldn't you want to go out with a little bit bigger of a bang?
  • 5) I'm pretty sure Buzz Brain (the agency that supposedly funded the video) isn't a real company.

What do you think -- is it fake? Watch the original video again and form your own hypothesis in the comments.