04.27.07

Viral ads gone wrong

Posted in Humour at 10:09 by Jonas

Randall Munroe of XKCD is trying to sort of hi-jack a viral ad by (apparently) Ask.com. I think that’s such a hilarious concept, I am compelled to help out. My contribution will be a small and probably largely insignificant one, as my blog isn’t exactly A-list, but what the hell:

THE ALGORITHM CONSTANTLY FINDS JESUS
THE ALGORITHM KILLED JEEVES
THE ALGORITHM IS BANNED IN CHINA
THE ALGORITHM IS FROM JERSEY

Funny that it’s from Ask.com, actually. My first guess was that it was from Google. Can you imagine how much sense that would make? How easy would it be to advertise for Google? You just chuck some nonsense on a billboard, and the first place people will go to find out what the Hell it is… is Google! Easiest job ever.

Speaking of Viral ads, they (like most advertising) sometimes have the opposite effect on me (but for different reasons than normal ads). Good viral advertising is creating something hilarious and posting it to the ‘Net; it’s hard as hell to do and virtually uncontrollable, but if it works, I will gladly help distribute it. Especially if it’s something to do with cats. But if you post something cryptic on a billboard, hoping I will be curious and Google it, all you achieve is to make me spiteful. The latest example was a billboard on my way to work saying “Auris means gold”. I still don’t know what the Hell it was advertising, because I stubbornly refused to play along with their stupid scheme. Trick me, will you? Exploit my natural curiosity? I think not!

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