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Where Did The Video Spoofing Gore Come From?

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Alot of people know Al Gore stars in the global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." But who did create "Al Gore's Penguin Army," a two-minute video playing on YouTube.com?

In the video, Mr. Gore appears as a shady figure who brainwashes penguins and bores movie audiences by blaming the Mideast crisis and starlet Lindsay Lohan's shrinking waist size on global warming. Like other videos on the popular YouTube site, it has a home-made, humorous quality. The video's maker is listed as "Toutsmith," a 29 year old who identifies himself as being from Beverly Hills in an Internet profile.

Antonio Regalado Wall Street Journal and DIONNE SEARCEY have written a great article in the Wall Street Journal regarding the video. The article by Antonio Regalado WSJ has been a great hit, and published by the likes of Post-Gazette.com amongst others.

It goes on to say in an email exchange with The Wall Street Journal, Toutsmith didn't answer when asked who he was or why he made the video, which has just over 59,000 views on YouTube at the time of writing. However, computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith's Yahoo account indicates it certainly did not come from an amateur working out of his basement as first impression seems.

Where did the Email originate from? Funnily enough from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C, public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include the likes of oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.

For marketers and pranksters of all sorts, online video is the latest arena for tactics they have been doing for years, says Fred Wertheimer president of the watchdog group Democracy 21. "What we don't know is will this have any impact, In the political arena it's the great experiment right now."

Politicians and marketers already make wide use of email lists and blogs, and it has long been possible to distribute information over the Internet while disguising its origins. But Web video operates on a different level, stimulating viewers' emotions powerfully and directly. And because amusing animations with a homespun feel can be created just as easily by highly paid professionals to promote agendas as by talented amateurs, caveat emptor is more relevant than ever.

People don't always believe what they read, however far more believe what they "see" which of course can be manipulated.