Online viral video is quickly playing an important role in the US 2012 election campaign, with Herman Cain's latest political video becoming an overnight sensation.
The Republican Party candidate has seen his popularity soar after posting the online ad on his official website.
It shows Cain's smoking campaign manager Mark Block taking a drag on a cigarette while Cain grins in the background. The film has already had over one million hits.
Online viral videos relating to president Barack Obama have also gone global and proved a success in past election campaigns.
The Obama Girl video features a young woman singing about her crush on the then Illinois-senator helping Obama come across as the cool alternative to Hilary Clinton when they were campaigning for the Democrat candidacy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the popularity of these online viral videos proves that this platform has become a staple of American politics. Previously, paid TV ads were the only way politicians could engage with their audience.
Stephen Farnsworth, an associate professor of communications at George Mason University in Virginia, told the news provider: "The decisions of what the public could see used to be in the control of TV executives.
"The web gives people the ability to send messages horizontally. You see something you like, you put it on YouTube."
In July, it was revealed that the Obama regime has spent over $1 million (£622,000) on online advertising for the election campaign.
