'Best' Fake Blog of 2006 Awarded

schwaang writes "Advertising is an integral part of the Web, and its revenues make the likes of Google possible for all of us. But when PR firms promote products by pretending to be real bloggers, some think it crosses the line into unethical 'astroturf'. The Consumerist held a contest for best 'Flog' of 2006. And the winner is... Sony for it's fake all-I-want-for-Xmas PSP blog (which Slashdot readers will no doubt remember). Runners up included Walmart and McDonald's. And the award itself? Well, it's something you might find on on a fake lawn."

tasty cake?

ehem, what was the dominant opinion on Slashdot in the matter of a proposed legislation to force payed bloggers to register? eat your cake now... :( (not a flamebait)

Re:tasty cake?

ehem, what was the dominant opinion on Slashdot in the matter of a proposed legislation to force payed bloggers to register?

I don't know, what was the dominant opinion? It seemed pretty divided. Anyway, what does making poilitical lobbyists register have to do with fake blogs for marketing purposes?

Editors Living In Glass Houses

Speaking of corporate shills. Two words for you slahdot: Roland Piquepaille. [slashdot.org]

Re:Editors Living In Glass Houses

He paraphrases and regurgitates large quantities of articles onto his blog and tries to get them linked to slashdot to increase his advertising revenue.

He doesn't actually add anything to the stories, merely acts as a middle man to siphon off some of the ad revenue.

Thus, people are bothered because slashdot links to him when they could link directly to the primary source with no more effort.

Fake Steve!

Fake Steve [blogspot.com] is, by far, the best fake blog ever.

beaten in 4 posts. damn.

I'm like, You know what? It's PR. It's marketing. It's the battle for public opinion. Everybody else who gets in trouble like this, like Martha and Quattrone, first thing they do is clam up. And all it does is make things worse. It makes them look guilty. And I'm not guilty. So I'm not going to apologize. And I'm not gonna shut up. Honestly. I'm blogging, and they can eat my friggin shorts. They think they're gonna push me around? I'm friggin Steve Jobs!

Ettiquette

I'm friggin Steve Jobs!

A handshake is considered more traditional in a business context.

Re:Ettiquette

Now he sells white boxes to freaks.

Zunies

I thought for sure the Zunies would get the golden poop award.

Facing Foreclosure

This is admittedly a long shot, but if Casey Serin at http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/ [iamfacingforeclosure.com] turns out to be fake, it will be one of the best con jobs ever performed.

My only reason for thinking that it's fake is because it's really, really hard to believe that someone with a lack of sense, intelligence, and decision making ability as catastrophic as Casey's could actually surive to age 24.

With every update, I find myself asking, "This can't be for real. Nobody is dumb enough to be $2.2M in debt, unemployed, penniless, and sign up for $52/year roadside assistance just because the offer showed up in the mail." Yet that's exactly what this genius claims to have done [iamfacingforeclosure.com]. It may be a long shot, but I cannot convince myself that Casey Serin is 100% nonfiction.

Re:Facing Foreclosure

With every update, I find myself asking, "This can't be for real. Nobody is dumb enough to be $2.2M in debt, unemployed, penniless, and sign up for $52/year roadside assistance just because the offer showed up in the mail."

Which would you rather be:
a) $2,200,000 in debt, and broken down in the middle of nowhere with no breakdown cover
b) $2,000,052 in debt, having a cold one while your car gets recovered

See, he's not so dumb ;)

Re:Facing Foreclosure

He was interviewed on NPR a few weeks ago, so surely they did some research to see if he's legit. I don't see your point about the $52/year roadside assistance. $52 isn't much, especially compared to the millions he owes. And he's obviously not penniless, since he can afford the fees for his domain registration and server space. However, I do think he's a greedy SOB who got what he deserved.

Re:Facing Foreclosure

He was interviewed on NPR a few weeks ago, so surely they did some research to see if he's legit.

James Frey was a bestselling writer who had appeared Oprah and had done tons of interviews and a movie deal before anyone did the slightest bit of research to see if his memoir was legit. It's certainly within the realm of possibility of being fake.

Foot-shooting fun

I don't really see why people try this (fake blogs to promote their products). How can the chance at getting a few thousand people to think "Hey, that looks like a decent product." when they also risk alienating countless more if their plans were to come to light?

Pot... kettle... black

So why does Consumerist get to say who's a fake blog, when Consumerist itself is just one of about a dozen front-ends [wikipedia.org] for privately-held company Gawker Media [gawker.com]? It, and the others, maintain the look of either personal or group blogs, and make no mention on their front pages of the business behind them.

How much business? From Wiki: While Denton does not go into detail over Gawker Media's finances, he has downplayed the profit potential of blogs[1], declaring "Blogs are likely to be better for readers than for capitalists. While I love the medium, I've always been skeptical about the value of blogs as businesses" on his personal site[2]. However, in the February 20, 2006 issue of New York Magazine, Jossip founder David Hauslaib estimated Gawker.com's annual advertising revenue to be at least $1 million two years ago, and possibly over $2 million a year[3]. Combined with low operating costs -- mostly web hosting fees and writer salaries -- Denton is believed to be turning a healthy profit.

Re:Pot... kettle... black

What, you can't be bothered to click a single FAQ link [consumerist.com] where they clearly state that they are published by Gawker Media? And you compare this to fake blogs which actively try to deceive the reader as to who really writes them? Give me a break.

I suppose you'll now say that CNN, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim, and the like are all "fronts" because they're all published by a single company.

The award is a football team?

What better use for astroturfing? :)

what else is new?

Sony has been dominating this arena since the beginning. I remember that phony giantology blog promoting Shadow of the Collossus a while back making huge ripples. (google giantology). I'm half tempted to make a fake blog condemning fake blogs, but that'd be nearly as bad as giving out fake awards for making fake blogs, wouldn't it? I mean... get real.

All time greatest...

...has to be the livejournal of the Illmatic [livejournal.com], North Korean president Kim Jong-Il.

so what

All arguments about the dishonesty of companies aside, do people actually get fooled by these fake blogs? The company names and products are blatantly displayed, combined with the unrealistic content, there's no doubt somebody is trying to push the product. And who else?

I watched to PSP Xmas video and its obviously an advertisement, nothing less.

What about the stupidity of handing out awards for something so obvious, as if something unknown has been revealed. That kind of thing doesn't deserve any credit because it's not even bordering on smart. I really think few people care that McDonalds has a fake blog, except the people who don't eat there anyways. They will have just another excuse to complain about the company, just make some more noise for the people who are making noise regardless. Then you have the people who say the corporate offenders have been revealed as liars and therefore the marketing ends up hurting them ... well, that's a wish, not reality.

Microsoft's attemp in Brazil

Some time ago a blog called Boring Boring [boringboring.com.br] appeared, claiming to seek the "uncoolest" things around. While its miscellaneous articles looked ok, even if you don't understand Portuguese you might note the computing-related articles (the ones on the right) are always commenting about Office 2007, even spreading some mild FUD [boringboring.com.br] saying the best format to save your files is Open XML because it is open, and thus guarantees interoperability.

Sony propaganda Strong

In Capitalist West Sony propaganda makes you need psp. In Soviet Russia kgb obtain Sony psp for you!

A message to the world

After viewing the PSP blog, I would like to say this to every soul on the planet: If you are instant messaging/on a chat room/any other real time communication method that involves typing, by all means, do type crap like u instead of you. If you are not, than DO NOT use that AOL pseudo-leet garbage. While you're at it, use proper grammar, not that 'urban' slang crap dreamed up by some rich white guy (gasp!) to gain a death grip on a demographic by taking control of their lifestyle and thought patterns. I'm not sure how butchering the English language has helped to sell overpriced clothes, but it has. Also, the Shift key is there for reason. Use it! That being said, Sony really overplayed their part, and I now have an urge to run out and buy a DS.

And the nominees are ...

Considering the subject, I'd actually consider Asa Dotzler as the best fake blog ... well, okay, you know right away who Asa works for.

Bestest fake blog ever

Chewbacca! [blogspot.com]Chewbacca!

Sony the #1 fake blog?

The parent company of the Consumerist is Gawker media, which controls some pretty anti-Sony gaming blogs, Kotaku.com and Gizmodo.com.

Perhaps Microsoft paid some money to Gawker to help them advertise/astroturf the XBox 360? And perhaps this "story" is actually part of that FUD campaign against Sony (and the PS3)?

It's not unreasonable to expect Microsoft to engage in such tactics.

Granted, Sony is as evil as Microsoft in many ways, it's just that Microsoft is much better at it (and Sony innovates more than Microsoft).

Roland Piquepaille?

Um, hello ...

Why Sony (and others) do this kind of thing

Can't think of a more deserving campaign or a more deserving company. However, it's worth noting that Sony does this kind of thing because they are confident -- and apparently have good reason to be confident -- that the public at large won't notice or doesn't care, witness these poll results:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1026 7 [networkworld.com]

At the very least, they can be sure that the benefits of such deceitfulness will outweigh the costs. Too few people pay too little attention.

Slashdot Opinion Center

Ok, so it is obviously fake, but come on Taco, I prefer the banner ads to press releases masquerading as Slashdot entries.

In the top left corner of Slashdot is the "Opinion Center" heading. Click it, you'll see "Intel". Click that and there is a bunch of PR nonsense.

http://intel.vendors.slashdot.org/ [slashdot.org]

Please help!

This is only remotely related, but here we go anyway.

http://igerard.co.uk/tin?key=Odck6dMA&formname=Que stionnaire [igerard.co.uk]

I am working on a MSC in Computer Science and we need some feedback on what people consider a blog to be. We would be grateful if you could help us out!

Re:Is Slashdot still here?

Michael? Is that you?