Sony-Ericsson Starts US$5M Astroturf Campaign

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Wednesday July 31, 2002 @01:21PM from the whoops-I-seem-to-have-spilled-my-drink-on-you dept.

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.]""

1 of 452 comments (clear)

Re:No soliciting. by fmaxwell · 2002-08-01 03:20 · Score: 1, Troll

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.