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'Best' Fake Blog of 2006 Awarded

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the all-i-want-for-xmas-is-no-corporate-shills dept.

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."

5 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Editors Living In Glass Houses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Speaking of corporate shills. Two words for you slahdot: Roland Piquepaille.

  2. Facing Foreclosure by back_pages · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is admittedly a long shot, but if Casey Serin at http://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. It may be a long shot, but I cannot convince myself that Casey Serin is 100% nonfiction.

  3. Re:Pot... kettle... black by glindsey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What, you can't be bothered to click a single FAQ link 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.

  4. A message to the world by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  5. Sony the #1 fake blog? by gamer4Life · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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).