A film of a man having a tattoo of a pair of sunglasses etched onto his face has become the latest YouTube sensation, but is being dismissed by some viewers as a publicity stunt.
The Californian man, known only as Matthew, is filmed having the black ink tattoo resembling a pair of Ray-Bans drawn onto his face while his girlfriend looks on.
The clip on video file sharing site YouTube has attracted almost 500,000 views since it was posted earlier this week, but some viewers have questioned whether the film is a hoax.
In it, Matthew's girlfriend describes waiting for the tattoo as the "calm before the storm", before the tattooist asks: "Dude, are you sure?"
Following the procedure Matthew describes his tattoo as "awesome", and as he puts his real sunglasses back on a voice in the background says: "You don't need those any more."
Hundreds of viewers commented on the video, some questioning what would happen if he ever needed real glasses and others speculating about his parents' reaction to his new body art.
But rumours became rife that the video was a stunt after it was found that "Never Hide Films", who posted the video online, is a production company formed by Ray-Ban.
Other videos posted on the Never Hide Films YouTube channel include a man catching a pair of Ray-Bans on his face in unusual situations, and a cow apparently giving birth to a man wearing Ray-Bans.
video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH1tTlq5-Qk
