Hewlett-Packard's new ad campaign proves that viral's just another word for nothing left to trust. The computer maker scored a New York Times piece about its viral site, FingerSkilz, in which an actor does soccer tricks with his fingers. What first looked like a personal video blog turned out to be a corporate project with highly computer-enhanced stunts.

It's part of HP's desperate campaign to look cool, along with ads featuring Jay-Z and sponsorship of an MTV reality show. (In "Meet or Delete," says the Times, "young people decide whether they want to date potential suitors based on the contents of their hard drives." Thrilling.)

HP hopes to "tell a story" instead of selling computers as a commodity. Too bad that story is just an urban legend.

Hewlett-Packard Takes a New Tack: Being Cool [NYT]

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