Brand Republic: Virgin Mobile adds to controversy with 'mangina' viral

There is a lot of talk at the moment about turning the internet into a video advertising broadcast medium, but most of it is misguided, and seems to totally ignore the fact that the internet isn't a passive medium.

For a while now I've been working with DMC to help develop a broad range of packages that allow advertisers the opportunity to effectively distribute their brand/campaign messages online through video. Below is our latest campaign, which involves us distributing (through a network of targeted independent and big media channels) a 1 minute directors cut version of Virgin Mobile's 30 second TV ad.

Virgin Mobile has created a controversial viral advertisement promoting its cut-price text messaging service, featuring a clip that includes a "mangina" scene that was deemed too saucy for television.

The ad, created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, is set in a psychiatric ward and the web version includes a "mangina" scene — where a man has tucked his penis between his thighs so it can not be seen, a pose used in the film 'The Silence of the Lambs'. […]

Digital Media Communications has planned the viral campaign, which can be viewed here.