Generally what a giant company employs illicit methods to build buzz about its product, it does not proceed to brag about them. But under CEO Dan Hesse, who insists on appearing in black and white commercials, nothing about Sprint makes sense these days.

In order to build interest about its new Samsung Instinct phone, the wireless carrier is asking filmmakers to plug the phone in a video they post on YouTube — the first 1,000 get $20 and the winner gets a $10,000 grand prize. Under normal circumstances, Sprint might be able to get away with the stunt by saying it merely aims to reward promising young directors with a little cash stipend while getting first-hand experience in product placement.

But they're not even trying to hide behind an excuse. Instead, they think they're in the joke!

At the website for the Samsung phone, Sprint instructs: "Shamelessly plug the Samsung Instinct into your home movie—this summer, turn your loved ones into cash with blatant product placement. It’s the greatest product placement home movie of all time.”

And a Sprint spokesperson even told one news outlet: "We’re paying people to hawk our Samsung Instinct phones in their YouTube videos."

It's too bad the actual phone, the Instinct, actually looks pretty decent. If they sent us one, we might even be inclined to, um, plug it on YouTube.