Media Orchard recently offered some advice on corporate videos. If only we’d seen this promotional video for Rockwell Automation’s Retro-Encabulator, we would have remembered to add this: Whenever possible, use plain English.

The Retro-Encabulator is a machine that not only supplies “inverse reactive current for use in unilateral phase detractors,” but is also “capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters.”

But, of course, you already knew that.

The two-minute video, which popped into our inbox on Thursday, is actually a brilliant spoof that has been making the rounds for some time now. Because it uses the names of actual companies, many people think it’s for real — which is understandable, considering the painful corporate videos to which we’ve all been subjected.

Snopes.com may wish to set the record straight on this one. PR execs, meanwhile, may wish to share it with their staffs as a fun lesson in what not to do.

Technorati tags: Video, Rockwell, Public Relations, Marketing