It really depends upon the child as to how effective something like spanking will be.
That said, I do not see a problem with it.
Although, once again, my father never once failed to explain to me why I was being spanked. I was very rarely spanked 'on the spot' as a reaction to something I was doing - along with my brothers. My mother was very quick to backhand us for disrespectful remarks or statements - but that was about as 'brutal' as it got.
My parents would always give me the opportunity to admit I had done something wrong, question me to make sure I understood why it was wrong, and then administer a punishment that was unavoidable.
For me - spanking worked.
For my younger brother, it also worked.
For my youngest brother - you could have beaten that kid through a wall and he would have looked at you like: "What? Is that all? Just wait until I'm your size."
However - if you made him stick his nose in the corner for even one full minute - he would break down into tears. He absolutely hated not being allowed to be a part of the group.
Me? I didn't care. I'm one of the brooding types. Stick me in the corner and that pretty much becomes a designated time to plot revenge or figure out how to not get caught the next time.
For me - it was the idea that my parents were upset enough with me to cause me pain that made me more considerate of what they had to say about what I did (which was explain to me why what I did was wrong).
For my brother - it was the idea that my parents were so upset with him that they didn't want to see or hear of him for any length of time that seemed to get him to do the same.
Discipline is not a one-size-fits-all ordeal. If my parents would have stuck me into the corner every time something happened - I can guarantee you I would be in jail right now, because it would have reinforced that brooding behavior and shifted my perception of the world toward myself and my own perception of events. It was the spanking that interrupted that brooding behavior and forced me to recognize that there were consequences in life that were unavoidable and that other people could very well exact tolls upon me for my own decisions.
Sending me to the corner was not what I perceived to be a real consequence, just as spanking my brother wasn't perceived by him to be a real consequence (likely because he had two older brothers he was growing up with - getting hit was hardly something to give a second thought to).