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Sony-Ericsson Starts US$5M Astroturf Campaign
lairdb writes "The WSJ reports today (31Jul02) that Sony Ericsson will be marketing their new T68i cellphone/camera combo unit via "shills" to create a grassroots buzz. Specific tactics will include fake tourist couples at popular attractions asking bystanders to take their picture, and "leaners": pairs of women ("actresses and female models") at bars playing interactive Battleship with each other from opposite ends of the bar.
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]""
As a reliable member of the Slash-Dot community, with my "karma points" well into the "Positive" range, I would like to express my complete satisfaction with my new Sony-Ericsson TI-85 phone.
This baby is "phat." It does voicemail, email, plays online games, and even takes pictures! I have a blast hanging out with my "elite" friends talking about Linux and snapping shots of good times.
I would definitely recommend this product to any of my fellow Slash-Dot enthusiasts. For more information, check out their slick URL at http://www.sony.com. You will be hard pressed to find a better phone for your money. Take it from me, a supporter of Linux and Free Source.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Yes, no bar owner would want attractive girls in their bar enticing men in... ever heard of 'girls drink free' nights?
Many bars frown on prostitution and this is not a great leap from that. No bar wants their male patrons getting pissed off because the attractive women at the bar were just trying to hustle them. Nor does the bar want "normal" women deciding that the competition is too stiff -- when the "competition" is actually just hotties planted by Sony/Ericsson to sell phones.