Turbotax video contest taxes the funny bone

"What's the difference between a animal stuffer and a tax aggregator? The animal stuffer only takes the skin."

That's just one of the questionable jokes shared through TaxLaugh.com, a political campaign currently run to promote Intuit's TurboTax software scheme.

With the tagline "Comedy is hard, TurboTax is easy," the political campaign is managed by online marketing platform company Brickfish and challenges would-be comedians to post humorous videos involving tax tips. Spectator of the site are invited to vote on their favourite routines as well as post the clips on their own Web sites, or share them via electronic mail or on sociable networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

The challenge itself is hosted by comic Jay Mohr, and runs through March 31. The comedians that submit videos have a opportunity to win $1,000 and a trip to see Mohr perform live in Southern California. Spectator who share and promote the videos will also have the opportunity of winning a Flip video camcorder.

The competition is promoted on YouTube and on the Brickfish.com site. The Brickfish platform allows for the videos to be tracked as they are shared by spectator, and consequence to be shown in real time, according to Nichole Goodyear, Brickfishâ��s vice president of operations and co-founder.

Contest participants can see which videos are being shared with the widest audience, while Intuit is provided with analytics on who is screening and commenting on the videos, she said.