A video clip of Nicolas Sarkozy's surprise visit with his wife during her interview at the Elysee Palace with readers of a French women's magazine has become worldwide internet hit.
Staged or not, the video provided a glimpse into the life of Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a former top model with a successful singing career before she married the French president last year.
The hit moment is when Bruni-Sarkozy affectionately calls her husband her "chouchou," or "sweetheart." In French, a chouchou also is the name for a fabric-covered elastic hair tie favored by young girls.
The moment was filmed earlier this week when five readers of the magazine "Femme Actuelle' (Present Day Woman) were meeting with Bruni-Sarkozy in the private quarters of the Elysee, which is both office and presidential residence.
The magazine says the clip has been widely seen on YouTube in many countries.
In the clip, Bruni-Sarkozy, dressed in a lavender top and dark pants, is seen talking with the women when Sarkozy, wearing a business suit, suddenly appears and sits down on edge of a chair next to his wife. He claims to have just finished a workout in the gym.
For her part, Bruni-Sarkozy affectionately and repeatedly strokes her husband's hands and face. The couple married last year. Both have been divorced, Sarkozy twice and Bruni-Sarkozy once.
Sarkozy and Bruni-Sarkozy regularly appear together at official events, but photos of them together privately indoors are rare.
On its Web site, Femme Actuelle, claimed the video had been widely watched throughout the world, naming the United States, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and even Zimbabwe.
Cole Camplese, director of Education Technology Services at Penn State University, said short videos that capture the public's imagination can spread at "mind numbing speed," in part because so many people post YouTube videos on Facebook.
"The rise of social networks have led to high-speed passing around of video," he said. "They post it on Facebook, so it's seen by 200 or 300 of their friends. The hours spent watching video online has now replaced the hours watching video on TV. It's video on demand."
