A laughably bad commercial for the East Hills Mall in St. Jospeh, Mo.—which we wrote about yesterday—has gained a rather large following this week. A piece of ironic Internet treasure, it's already well on its way to a million YouTube views.

Given the amount of Internet hoaxes, though, and the ad's perfectly executed terrible-on-purpose quality, we wondered if it was real—and who was responsible for such a jewel.

Well, according to the report below by a local Fox affiliate, the spot is indeed authentic. In fact, it's the work of local producer Chris Fleck. In the interview, he tells Fox he isn't really surprised at the enormous popularity of his masterpiece.

"The whole time we pitched this idea, we said, 'Maybe it would go viral.' Boy, it did," he says with a laugh.

This isn't Fleck's first time at the rodeo, either. He's amassed a few thousand clicks on some other spots, including one with a rapping Mitsubishi dealer and another for a liquor store featuring a jockey riding a cooler.

His advertising philosophy is simple: "If you can entertain, and then slide the message in, you’ve accomplished your goal. I just love that it's getting this much response. That's what commercials do, you get response."

Check out the mall ad, and a few of Fleck's previous works, here: