eBay’s ‘Unwrap Attack’ Markets Kids’ Christmas Present Freakouts

14 years ago, seven-year-old Brandon Kuzma unwrapped a Nintendo 64 on Christmas morning. His parents videotaped the occasion. The amount of raw, enthusiastic, prepubescent joy Brandon elicited as he tore away the wrapping paper is both inspiring and terrifying. It makes you wish you liked anything as much as Brandon likes his Nintendo 64. At least BMW felt that way.

The German luxury and performance vehicle manufacturer purchased the rights to Brandon’s video for somewhere around $50,000 and featured clips in its broadcast commercials. Ebay should send Brandon some royalty cash, too.

A new holiday marketing initiative from the online auction and shopping website recently launched. Dubbed Love to Give, it’s a social media campaign that centers around the cultural phenomenon of kids getting way too excited about opening Christmas presents. Stuart Elliott at the New York Times estimates the budget for Love to Give between $15 to $18 million, divided between online ads, social media applications, and a web series targeting “40-year-old Ebay enthusiasts.”

The Daily Show‘s Samantha Bee is the star of Unwrap Attack, a six-part weekly web series at the heart of Ebay’s Love to Give campaign. In each installment, Bee showcases freakouts submitted from Ebay users. It’s like a specialized holiday segment of America’s Funniest Home Videos

, except the host is way better than Tom Bergeron.

The show’s a great idea. What parent, after seeing other people’s children open a gift and shake with frenetic delight, wouldn’t want to patronize whatever merchant delivered that message? Plus, and here’s the genius part, when your children reach adolescence and become more interested in sexting than Barbies and video games, you can use eBay to sell the old present, pass the spirit of Unwrap Attack forward, and maybe even turn a profit.