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Uh, Cartoon Network…You're Supposed to Pay for Advertising.
Did Cartoon Network's marketing team learn nothing from their Aqua Teen Hunger Force Boston bomb scare debacle? The one that resulted in $2 million in fines and the resignation of the network's general manager? (Not to mention that the eventual ATHF movie was a bigger bomb than any device planted in Beantown.)
And now they're resorting to splog. This week, I checked in on the messageboard for the band the db's, where I had once before uncovered corporate comment spam. There was now another very random posting which asked:
Does anyone watch Storm Hawks? It’s on Mondays on CN… does anyone remember if it’s the cute girl Piper who rides the heliscooter or if it’s the big strong guy, Junko? My friends and I all watched the first episode, but no one can agree.
I poked around on the Internet and found the same sentences posted on several other sites. Digging deeper, I found dozens of web pages with this alternate text:
Did anyone catch Storm Hawks on Cartoon Network? I watched it, and I was impressed by the way it looked! The animation was really smooth, but it looked like they used CGI too to make it look more realistic. What did anyone else think?
And who knows which other variations are out there. Listen, Cartoon Network, I know it's hard to grab the kids' attention these days. I know you have to think "outside the box." And I know you probably have a $2 million hole in your marketing budget. But show an ounce of class and try to play by the rules. Or else you're going to spend a lot more time in court, and attorney-at-law Harvey Birdman won't be able to help you.
Posted by Jack Silbert on 06/17/2007 | Permalink
Comments
So ummm...
Did anyone catch Storm Hawks on Cartoon Network? I watched it, and I was impressed by the way it looked! The animation was really smooth, but it looked like they used CGI too to make it look more realistic. What did anyone else think?
Posted by: Chuck Stonehammer | Jun 17, 2007 1:49:02 AM
Coca cola did the same thing here in Norway when coca cola zero hit the market. A user posted links to videos (hosted on non-related video hosting sites) feateuring "zero", and like CN i did not appear to be spam. It was after one forum admin discovered the same messages on diffrent boards the case was brought to attention. Hundreds of norwegian boards had the same message from the same username. The IP was trced back to an swedish advertising agency hired by coca cola company.
Posted by: Jonas | Jun 17, 2007 10:48:17 AM
Chuck, I didn't but all that CN stuff is computer generated. You don't need to watch to know. :)
Posted by: icebox | Jun 18, 2007 5:38:43 PM
Did anyone catch that cool guy Jack posting on Stay Free? He's handsome, too! I was confused because I thought the blog might be about Maxi pads, but it has a lot of witty writers. They're talented, too.
Posted by: Jersey Girl | Jun 19, 2007 3:20:40 PM
Damn. Chuck Stonehammer took my post.
Posted by: carli | Jun 22, 2007 9:46:24 PM
I got an e-mail addressed to my blog from a company called Guerrilla PR, which was promoting Storm Hawks. The text of the e-mail implied that they were hired for this online "guerrilla" marketing campaign by the production company that makes Storm Hawks (Nerd Corps Entertainment), and not from the Cartoon Network itself.
Posted by: frank | Jul 2, 2007 4:13:35 PM
I thought the Aqua Teens movie was a success given its miniscule budget.
Posted by: Godard | Aug 8, 2007 12:30:49 PM
