This is viral marketing

A video clip of a chair breaking under parliament's finance committee chairman Nhlanhla Nene during a television interview has made  international news.

Over 41,000 views of the clip on YouTube had been recorded by early Friday, and his fall also made it to the BBC and Telegraph's websites.

Nene was filmed during an interview on SABC2's View from the House on Tuesday morning. A cracking sound is heard but he continues talking.

This is followed by another cracking sound and he falls to the floor, scrabbling at the table briefly, as he chair collapses under him.

The video, which has caused much mirth, has also been doing the rounds on social networking sites like Facebook and is the subject of debate on radio talk shows.

A Google search on his name on Thursday showed links to numerous local and international sites featuring the video, or commenting on it.

On South Africa's video sharing site Zoopy, viewers wrote: "Hahahahahah, I watched this video 20 times - no i think the chairman should take his chair next time", and "Classic shadow encounter!! He went down with the Rand".

His office said he was all right after the fall and did not want to comment to the media, who had been swamping him.

"He doesn't want to entertain it anymore," she said.

Similar embarrassing moments have been experienced by US president George W Bush who found a door was locked as he tried to leave a room after a press conference in Beijing.

Nene reportedly told the Sowetan: "This is a reflection of the type of media we have in this country."

He said the incident and media hype would not be good for his public image.

"It reflects more on me than on them (SABC). I don't want to blow this out of proportion. It was a minor fall," he said.

The newspaper asked if his weight had anything to do with it and he said: "I know that I am heavy but I sit on these chairs all the time. It can't be my weight."

The SABC said that both Nene and presenter Hayde Fitzpatrick had handled the incident with professionalism.

She immediately moved to an ad break while studio staff made sure Nene had not been hurt and he resumed his interview after the break.

The SABC has apologised to him but is also investigating how the clip managed to make the rounds outside the company.

"It is really bad that the video tape has been circulating, when people should concentrate on the wellness of the individual," said spokesman Kaizer Kganyago.

If only marketers trying to implement viral campaigns could tap into human emotion to find what it is in certain incidents that appeals so much to people that they want to share it, laugh about it and talk about it.

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