this is "nightline." tonight, cruel punishment? nfl star adrian peterson charged with child abuse, sparking a firestorm of controversy over whether it's ever okay to hit your child. when does discipline become a crime? plus, mad men 2.0. who needs don draper? >> toasted. >> if you're a social media star, you can cash in big. these online celebrities have more followers than hollywood's biggest household names. and they're turning that into six-figure salaries. tonight, why some companies are trading in million dollar ad campaigns for this. ♪ everybody get up

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good evening. public outcry tonight over a new nfl star accused of violent behavior. minnesota vikings star adrian peterson, charged for physically abusing his son. the incident leading to a heated controversy over physical discipline that extends well beyond the football field. is it a parent's right, or just wrong? here's my "nightline" co-anchor juju chang. >> reporter: when does spanking cross the line? it's the burning question tonight, brought on by the shocking arrest of one of the best running backs in the nfl. >> peterson -- a first down and more. >> reporter: a smiling adrian peterson, seen here in his mug shot, accused of repeatedly hitting his 4-year-old son with a tree branch. the case igniting a firestorm among parents. how much is too much? the actress rosie perez weighing in on her first day as a host on "the view." >> being hit in the face as a child, you remember that and it stays with you and it scars you and it's wrong.

>> you think that parents who bop their children are abusers? >> it goes back to, what do you define as abuse? having a whip on your scrotum, that's abuse. >> reporter: she's referring to the welts and bruises found across the 4-year-old boy's lower body. his pediatrician reported the injuries. his father, who used to grace the cover of wheaties boxes, releasing an emotional statement today. "i'm not a perfect husband. i'm not a perfect parent. but i am, without a doubt, not a child abuser. i am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury." it's not the first time extreme discipline has sparked outrage. this shocking footage of a father whipping his 16-year-old daughter went viral. the father in question, william adams, a family court judge in texas. his daughter hillary, who suffers from cerebral palsy, explains why she went public with the video. >> i just wanted somebody to see it and tell me that, no, hillary, this wasn't right. and i'm glad you were able to

grow up and move on past this. and your dad really wasn't right for doing that. >> reporter: but even after the footage became public, adams defended his actions. >> in my mind, i haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing, and i did lose my temper, but i've since apologized. it looks worse than it is. >> reporter: the texas supreme court suspended adams from the bench and issued him a public warning. he was reinstated just a year later. adrian peterson, who grew up in texas, seemed to suggest this is more about cultural differences, describing being beaten as a child growing up. "i have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success i have enjoyed as a man." former nba superstar charles barkley this weekend explained the southern culture of whoopings. >> i'm from the south. whipping -- we do that all the time. every black parent in the south is going to be in jail under those circumstances. >> reporter: in fact, of the 19 states where it is still legal for teachers to spank students in school, most are in the southern region. you could call it the spanking

belt. >> in the south, spanking, there's a higher tolerance for spanking versus the northeast. i think what most parents need to understand is, spanking is not encouraged and there are other ways to discipline your child without inflicting pain and certainly bodily injury. >> reporter: dr. janet taylor is a family psychiatrist who points out the body of research suggesting that hitting your kids can leave lasting scars. >> consistent spanking, harsh spanking, extreme spanking, can affect a child's psychological development. they may be more depressed, more likely to have issues with substance abuse. they can become more aggressive towards other children. >> reporter: hall of famer cris carter weighing in on espn over the weekend with an emotional and highly personal argument against parents using violence. >> and i promised my kids i won't teach that message to them. you can't beat a kid to make them do what they want to do. >> that is correct. >> reporter: the former viking goes on, praising the team's decision to remove peterson from sunday's game. >> they did the right thing. >> yes.

>> take him off the field. i don't care what -- we in a climate right now, i don't care what it is. take him off the daggone field. you know what? as a man, that's the only thing we really respect. we don't respect no women. we don't respect no kids. the only thing roger and them do, take them off the field. because they respect that. >> reporter: but staunch viking fans like this one on the cover of "the daily news" seeming to make light of the situation. on "gma" this morning, we took a poll. >> i was spanked growing up, for sure. >> show of hands, who was spanked? >> we all were. >> look how we turned out. >> reporter: after the story aired, my twitter feed filling with strong opinions. one southern user saying, get off y'all's high horse and stop putting down the south. still others condemning the practice. stop referring to what peterson did as a spanking. bruises and open cuts on his 4-year-old child equals abuse. and dwayne potter from north carolina tweeted this back to me. i support spanking at home and at school.

so, we reached out to him to hear more about why this father of three feels so strongly. >> i'm in north carolina, i'm in the bible belt. and, you know, i was always taught, spare the rod, spoil the child. i believe we as human beings -- sometimes, when we're younger, we require a little discomfort to get us back in line. >> reporter: he proudly showed us his paddle chris stened with the nickname -- >> attitude adjuster. i made this myself. when i kids were much younger. >> reporter: but is spanking really effective? a recent study in "the journal of psychology" found that 73% of kid hoos were spanked by their moms went back to bad behavior within just a few minutes. there is a huge distinction between spanking and the type of abuse adrian peterson stands accused of. just tonight, new allegations being reported by cbs affiliate

khou, that peterson may have injured another of his sons last june. his lawyer saying the allegations are simply not true. and yet, earlier today, the vikings reinstated peterson, punting on any further discipline while the case is pending. >> we must defer to the legal system to determine whether he went too far. but we cannot make that judgment. >> reporter: and peterson himself added a note of remorse. "i know that many people disagree with the way i disciplined my child. i also understand after meeting with a psychologist that there are other alternative ways of disciplining a child that are more appropriate." peterson could face up to two years in jail for what happened. but it's not up to the court of public opinion. eventually, the jury of 12 peers will decide the proper punishment. for "nightline," i'm juju chang in new york. next, companies like coca-cola spending millions on ad campaigns, they're not leaving it to social media stars who are making it big in a whole new way.

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>> reporter: spending the afternoon making funny videos with friends -- may seem like a total slacker thing to do. >> perfect, dude. >> reporter: but for these guys, it's the pathway to fame and fortune. >> want to try another one? >> let's try another one. >> here we go. >> reporter: meet cody johnson, clarity and brent rivero. rising stars on a video app called vine. all three pull down six-figure salaries, just for posting on social media. and so can you, if you have lots of followers and the right image. they are the new don drapers, creative guys who figured out how to connect with consumers. and that is worth a fortune. >> i think it's finally giving the creator a chance to do what they love to do for a living. >> reporter: it's not selling out, it's cashing in? >> we're able to do well for ourselves, finally, after a year of vining and filming just because we loved it.

>> reporter: doing well is an understatement. multinational companies like coca-cola are willing to pay top dollar to reach their fans. one six-second ad on vine worth anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. >> i get good young audience, 8 all the way to 18, 19, 20. ♪ america ♪ america >> reporter: the ads don't look anything like the traditional 30-second tv spot. like the one coca-cola spent close to $10 million on for the 2014 super bowl. or, for that matter, any of the other multimillion dollar ad campaigns coke has launched over the years. the vine ads are shorter. grittier. >> woo! >> reporter: and often wittier. six seconds total.

these ads have an air of authenticity. like an endorsement from the cool guy next door. ♪ just so fresh so clean >> reporter: what's in it for coke? >> i don't know, what's in it for any company in terms of the marketing? >> you are always going to need marketing and p.r. >> reporter: you're going to reach a young audience. who have been drinking coke for years. >> exactly, exactly. vine's average audience are between 13 and 15-year-olds. we have the ability to, you know, affect an audience in any way simply by saying, go do it. so, they come to us because we can reach an audience that they can't. >> reporter: it's a sizable following. clarity has 2 million followers on vine. about 1.7 million more than the rapper pitbull. cody has 2.4 million. momer pitbull. and brent, at 16, has 5 million followers. that's more than harry styles, miley cyrus and tyler posey combined.ççr]ç coca-cola isn't the only big

company lining up. procter & gamble, hewlett-packard, and warner brothers are among the growing number of companies that advertise with top vine throughers. it's called native advertising. corporate america is forecast to spend $4 billion on it this year alone, probably twice that much by the end of the decade. >> let me have your phone. and when we get close to someone, i'm going to roll the whole time. >> reporter: here on hollywood boulevard, cody is helping clarity shoot a vine for coke. his third one for the brand this year. >> can i have one? >> reporter: the first, a pretty straightforward six-second commercial. but the new video has a decidedly different tone. >> go down this way. >> we can do that. >> reporter: this one's a twist on the share a coke campaign. >> excuse me, sir, how are you? i noticed you were there. normally we're doing funny six-second stuff. i pitched the idea of sharing a coke, you are sharing things with the less fortunate.

>> reporter: it might seem in poor taste to some, and, in fact, coca-cola ended up not picking up this vine. but walk down the street with these guys -- >> i like your vines. >> oh, thank you. >> reporter: and you can instantly see they're on to something. >> you guys are hard to walk down the street with. >> sort of. >> oh, my god! >> hi. >> hey! >> hi! >> reporter: to their fans, cody and clarity are bona fide hollywood stars. >> oh, my god. i love you so much! >> reporter: that's what the big brands are paying for. a way to reach millions of young consumers like these. i can tell you guys like their videos. they're doing videos for coca-cola today. would it make you more likely to buy coca-cola? >> definitely. >> probably. >> yeah. >> reporter: really? >> yeah. >> it's like, they're not made up of, like, these -- they're like normal people. real life. >> celebrities, but not celebrities. >> reporter: it's that ability

to connect that has corporate america looking for ways to cash in. >> young people ar little bit tired of being spoon-fed this highly produced entertainment. >> reporter: niche is a combination ad agency and talent agency for this digital age. >> we have tons of kids on the site who see better engagement on their social channels than miley cyrus does. vine stars and instagram photographers are more influential, morrell, more popular with young audiences. >> reporter: connecting the big corporate brands with the social media stars best positioned to influence their target audience. >> these creators can do whatever they want on their channel. but if they want to turn this into a full-time living and they want to work with some of the biggest fortune 500 brands, all their content is going to be scrutinized and all of it combed over by brands and agencies. >> reporter: the viners also have to be choosey. they don't want their videos to suddenly seem like they've been sanitized by the corporate p.r. team. they don't want to alienate the fan base they've worked so hard to build. >> we don't want them to think,

oh, we're just using them. know what i mean? because some comments are like, sellout, or, i'm unfollowing you now. it's like, why? because i -- i made 200 vines for you and i made one vine that's helping better my life. and you hate me now? >> reporter: you're careful about the brands you pick. >> i'm very careful. >> reporter: a world away from madison avenue. for "nightline," i'm david wright in los angeles. next, robin thicke's surprising confession about his marriage and hit song "blurred lines," all under oath. alriwe need to do somethinguble widifferent. ranch. callahan's? ehh, i mean get away, like, away away. road trip?

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after robin thicke's wife left him, he mounted a public campaign to get her back. but what really happened? the star singer's shocking confession, while under oath. here's abc's nick watt. ♪ everybody get up >> reporter: last year, robin thicke was on the crest of a wave. "blurred lines" was everywhere. >> there was a time last year when he looked like he was going to be the next big superstar. >> reporter: now, a sensational glimpse of the reality behind the cheesy grin. every day i woke up, i would take a vicodin to start the day, thicke told lawyers representing marvin gaye's family involved in a lawsuit whether "blurred lines" ripped off "got to give it up," heard here on "soul train." ♪

>> reporter: thicke claims he was drunk and high on oprah. >> once you see the video, you see your husband romping around with three topless girls -- >> reporter: and suggests his wife walked out because he came clean about his painkiller habit. "i told my wife the truth, that's why she left me." now, he says, he's kicked the pills. when your wife leaves you, it gives you good reason to sober up. thicke's deposition was just released by the gaye family legal team. thicke's lawyer just told abc news, robin's moment of personal vulnerability is being exploited in the hope of diverting attention from the obvious weakness of their legal claim. ♪ now you in it >> reporter: though they do have thicke on vh1 saying this. >> we went in the studio and, you know, i had mention to him that one of my favorite songs of all time is marvin gaye's "got to give it up" and so we tried to get a little groove like that going. >> reporter: but thicke now admits i was high and drunk every time i did an interview

last year, but i do generally remember trying to sell the public on the fact that "blurred lines" was my idea in some way. the stories about writing the song with pharrell are just a booze-fueled fabrication. it became a huge hit and i wanted credit, thicke's deposition reads in part. the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song. pharrell williams, when asked by lawyers what carries the song along, stated unequivocally, "robin thicke's voice." >> the fact that he didn't actually write his biggest song, what is he going to point to now that he's actually done in his career? >> reporter: and now, he's the guy who just admitted under oath he was drunk and high on oprah. >> it's so easy to become self-obsessed. >> reporter: blurred lines, blurred vision. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in los angeles. >> and i'll talk about what that all means legally tomorrow morning on "good morning america."

we leave you tonight with the newest miss america, now facing backlash after being crowned this weekend with what some considered a controversial talent. her secret to success, the beauty pageant coach extraordinaire. billal ver son. this coach has been the force behind the last three winners in a row. a streak like that, we had to; how does he do it? and what does he really think about those cups? head online for his answers at abcnews.com/nightline. thanks for watching abc news. good night. right here. with a control pad that can read your handwriting, a wide-screen multimedia center,

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