http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/05/video-entrepreneurs-can...
they're trying to sell stuff to entrepreneurs (who've never heard of grand central / google voice). Obviously this video is a cynical viral marketing ploy... lame.
There is no shame in the fact that great causes are sponsored.
1) It ends with "See how Grasshopper empowers entrepreneurs to succeed" and "grasshopper.com" bouncing up and down to call attention to itself.
2) What "causes" are sponsored?
I completely disagree with your statement that "a marketing ploy with an underlying purpose of selling stuff isn't necessarily lame"- in general one should run screaming away from anything that can be described as a "ploy" with an "underlying purpose".