Where oh where has our little Johnnie gone?

My link to that fabulous Johnnie Walker video in a recent post went dead the other day. That’s because the spot was pulled from YouTube. The message there is “no longer available due to a copyright claim by BBH.” There must be a story here that’s beyond my ability to comprehend, because, well… this is something I can’t comprehend. So Johnnie Walker tasks BBH to create some buzz, the agency comes up with an amazingly good idea, hires a director, signs a perfect actor and pulls off the impossible to make The Man Who Walked Around The World. And now they yank it from the world’s biggest video showcase just as it’s gaining notoriety?

I can’t find any authoritative explanation by Googling. The best I could come up with is that the copyright issue is a cover story and they simply wish to direct all traffic to the Johnnie Walker site. But if it’s there, they’ve done a great job of hiding it. So I’ll stop guessing. However, if I were Johnnie Walker, I’d do whatever I have to do to make it super-easy for the world to find a video that has the remarkable power to immerse the viewer in the JW brand for a full 6-1/2 minutes. How dare they shoot poor Johnnie in the foot.

FYI, the video in my earlier post is functional again, linked to a different site.

Update 9/2/09 1:45 pm: Interestingly, the video is now back up on YouTube. Only now it’s mucked up with subtitles (don’t you speak Scottish?). I’m tempted to just delete this post now, but — as we all know, mistakes live forever on the Internet. So kudos to all involved for sorting it out, but a continued shame-on-you for letting it happen in the first place. I will leave my own link connected to adland.tv’s site just because at this point I trust no one!

Update 9/3/09 9:53 am: Now that I’ve slept on it, I really hate the subtitles they added to the YouTube version. Half the wonder of this video is the breathtaking scenery, and now they’ve scribbled on it. I’m actually kind of shocked that the brilliant minds behind this video would vandalize their own work. Perhaps they were dragged kicking and screaming…