Hundreds of thousands of French voters were captivated by Victoria Passage this week, the pretty blonde who appeared in a YouTube video confessing her crush for French leftist presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. (Read my previous post on the reasons why the clip became so popular in France).
But days after the release of the video, rumors increased over the identity of the girl.
When questioned by the media, the official response by Mélenchon’s campaign was “unfortunately, she doesn’t work with us:”
“We have no idea where this comes from. We made come phone calls, but we can’t tell who could have done it, but probably, an agency, due to the good quality of the production.”
Speculation over the video’s origin increased.
Finally, media outlets discovered that so-called Victoria Passage’s real name is Rebecca Carlborn, a model who’s beginning her singing career complete with a Facebook profile where there isn’t much information except for the fact that she “likes” Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Facebook page.
A quick online search also leads to her Tumblr and Twitter accounts.
A shot of Rebecca Carlborn, aka “Victoria Passage, the Mélenchon Girl” on her Tumblr page.
It was through her Twitter account that Carlborn made the following announcement today:
“As you now know, I was hired to play the role of Victoria for this clip, as part of an idea by Agency Passage Piéton!”
Here’s the original tweet:
The video was also a way to celebrate a French public relations company’s seventh birthday, according to a story by The Local.
“The campaign was sad, boring, we wanted to bring in something fresh,” Frederic Lambert, a director ar Passage Pieton told the AFP, who added that the video was shot and produced in little over a week.
Here’s the original press release (in French):
Communique de Pressehttp://www.scribd.com/embeds/88730376/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list
But does it really matter that the video was a hoax? If anything, the clip served its purpose to promote the pop songstress and also, draw attention by bringing a bit of excitement to the presidential candidate whose approval rating, by the way, is increasing day after day.
Extra:
In case you want to watch the original “Take Power Over Me, Jean-Luc” video once again, here you go:
France Elects 
Signs of attraction from women
April 16, 2012
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