YouTube, meet Product Placement! You guys would make a lovely couple

While visiting my usual online haunts I found a blog to blog about! Virginia Heffernan’s “Screens” blog discovered a new use of YouTube! And to think we had exhausted YouTube’s potential…

Heffernan reports on a YouTuber who found a way to make money: homemade advertisements for big corporations! The goal was to finance two months rent in San Francisco by scamming The Man. The unnamed YouTuber picked up a vintage Nike t-shirt, gave it to a friend to wear at a David Rodigan concert (D.J. RamJam), and film the whole thing. Next, he sent a letter to Nike explaining the project, and when the video received 15,000 hits, the user received a check for $1,815.88 from Nike. As Heffernan points out, the video didn’t attract viewers because it was an advertisement for Nike (at least not initially), it attracted viewers because of the DJ. After watching the video, it's pretty hard to miss the glaring Nike symbol in the background.

Could this be a new trend? With the popularity of YouTube growing on a daily basis, especially after being bought by Google, I don’t see why companies wouldn’t want advertisements appearing “secretly” among the videos. Also, with the number of users looking to get attention/make a quick buck, I don’t see why they would pass up the opportunity to make some extra money doing something they do already. Thoughts?