Everyone loves a viral video. Even marketing departments of giant corporations. Which is why it's no secret that many of the viral vids your co-workers send you are not actually "real." They're real in that they are a video that's going viral. But they're not real in the fact that the people and stunts in the video are paid actors and the actions taking place are CGI'd more often than you want to believe.

But just because they're fake doesn't mean they're not entertaining. Here are some of our favorite from over the years. Some because they're actually interesting, and some because, well, they're embarrassingly terrible.

The Best

1. The Bunt Home Run

Commercial For: Didibao Shoes (maybe)

Some fake viral videos involve expensive CGI and complex camera shots. But this one is genius in its simplicity. Just cut together video of a bunt with video of a home run video using some grainy, foreign Japanese baseball game and voila. (One of the Ten Commandments of making fake viral videos is: Something is much more believable if it's foreign.)

2. Hot Girl Pulls off Insane Golf Trick





Commercial For: Bud Light

We can tell this viral video is fake because no man in his right mind would stand in front of a girl taking a full swing with a driver (and I don't care that he covers his crotch right before she takes a swing). If she could really do this, she'd be on Letterman, not a shaky-shot camera phone in some random backyard. Oh, it also helps that the money shot at the end is a Bug Light bottle. (Full disclosure: I also know this was fake because I created it for Budweiser.)

3. Ball Girl Makes Crazy Catch





Commercial For: Gatorade

While this video was clearly a fake, the Internet went mental for it and it spread like wildfire not long after it's release. Gatorade admitted they were behind it, but only after they said they weren't going to release it. Which seems even fishier than the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-catch this girl supposedly pulled off.



4. Guy Catches Laptop With His Butt





Commercial For: MSI

This may be my faovrite fake viral ever. It doesn't even try to be real, it just tries to be ridiculously over the top and funny. This is the Internet version of the Old Spice guy.



5. Running On Water

Commercial For: Hi-Tec

Even Jesus was like "Faaaaaake" the first time he saw this.

6. Evan Longoria Makes A Bare-Handed Catch





Commercial For: Gillette

It's a dead giveaway when the description of the video refers to Evan Longoria as a "Gillette Young Gun". I'm not totally clear on how this video makes me want to buy more Gillette razors, but at 5 million views and counting, it clearly did it's job of going viral.



7. Girl Kicks A Soccer Ball Through A Big Donut





Commercial For: Nike

Marketers have clearly figured out that the formula of girl + doing something x Internet video = page views. We really like how she just happens to place the ball down so the Nike Swoosh is facing the camera. That's in the subtley-branded Hall of Fame.

8. Bike Hero

Commercial For: Guitar Hero World Tour

When it came out that this one was fake, everyone went "Who cares, let's watch it again."

9. The Craziest Slip and Slide Ever

Commercial For: Microsoft

I'm not sure how a dude riding a home made slip n' slide jump into a hilariously tiny pool is going to get me to buy more computers, but I'm glad they made this.

The Worst

10. Rob Dyrdek's Floating Skateboard

Commercial For: SweeTarts

I know this piece is called "Best Fake Viral Videos" but this is clearly on this list ironically. This is by far the lamest one we've ever seen. They should've put some more of their CGI budget into getting actors who can say "Whoa!" a little more believably.

11. David Beckham Has Three Balls

Commercial For: Pepsi

Hi, my name is David Beckham and I drink Pepsi all the time. Oh, and I also hang out with complete morons who like to yell stuff in clown voices while I make CGI'd videos of me kicking soccer balls into trash cans on the beach.

12. Michael Vick Throws a Football Out Of A Stadium

Commercial For: Powerade

Michael Vick is a superhuman specimen, but no athlete is strong enough to overcome crappy CGI.

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13. Lebron Hits Some Full Court Shots

Commercial For: Powerade

If they really wanted to pull this off, they should've cut the dopey newscaster (who is clearly not going to win any Academy Awards) and had LeBron not shoot 80 footers like they're a free throw.

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