Submitted by Tim Jackson:

The Electronic Arts campaign for the video game ‘Dante’s Inferno’, recently reviewed in the Times, had quite a release campaign. It utilized some interesting hoaxes, including a fake Christian protest. Curious, I hunted down the whole list of ad campaign stunts.

To hell and back: EA’s guerrilla marketing campaign for ‘Dante’s Inferno’
by David Griner
Adworks Blog

Introduction
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Take, for example, the marketing of Electronic Arts’s blockbuster new video game, Dante’s Inferno. Last year, the company set about trying to educate the public not only about the game but about a 14th-century literary classic and the very nature of human morality. What ensued was one of the most complex campaigns in video-game history, one that got EA burned for fakery and sexism, and then—thanks to a bold change of direction—lauded for intellect and creativity. (more…)

Submitted by Tim Jackson:

A great prank? As it was 208 years ago, I thought I’d mention it…

I’ve often thought of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public” as a great early satire as prank.

Not dissimilar to the Joey Skaggs dog food restaurant hoax/satire.

I just heard about Daniel Defoe’s “The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church” written on July 31, in 1701. His satire called for the savage elimination of dissenters. When the church found out it was parody, he was (allegedly) pilloried. The crowd threw flowers instead of fruit.

images: astroblogos.wordpress.com & Indiana.edu

Submitted by Tim Jackson:

It’s not too late to send your mother that perfect message for Mother’s Day!

Mom-Sourcing

Submitted by Tim Jackson, as seen on LandOverBaptist.org:

Are Your Children Playing With Lucifer’s Testicles?

Are Your Children Playing With Lucifer’s Testicles? (The Truth About Easter Eggs) is a wonderfully informative and well-researched Christian book which consolidates a 2-month Adult Remedial Sunday School series into two-hundred exciting and easy to read pages along with memorable illustrations. Are Your Children Playing With Lucifer’s Testicles? or “PWLT” as the book is now referred to in the Southern Baptist Sunday School Teachers catalogue takes the reader on an unforgettable journey that traces the pagan (Satanic) origins of secular (Satanic) Easter, with a specific focus on the origin of “Easter Eggs.”, Hardcover 1st Edition (April 2009)

Ordering is easy. Click here for more info.

Happy April Fools’ Day from Tim Jackson:

Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink
by Rio Palof
The Guardian
1 April 2009

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication.

The move, described as “epochal” by media commentators, will see all Guardian content tailored to fit the format of Twitter’s brief text messages, known as “tweets”, which are limited to 140 characters each. Boosted by the involvement of celebrity “twitterers”, such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Stephen Fry, Twitter’s profile has surged in recent months, attracting more than 5m users who send, read and reply to tweets via the web or their mobile phones.

As a Twitter-only publication, the Guardian will be able to harness the unprecedented newsgathering power of the service, demonstrated recently when a passenger on a plane that crashed outside Denver was able to send real-time updates on the story as it developed, as did those witnessing an emergency landing on New York’s Hudson River. It has also radically democratised news publishing, enabling anyone with an internet connection to tell the world when they are feeling sad, or thinking about having a cup of tea. (more…)

Submitted by Tim Jackson:

Czech court to rule on fairy-tale kingdom
by Rob Cameron
BBC News, Czech Republic
October 6, 2008

A court in the Czech city of Olomouc is to deliver its verdict in one of the oddest legal disputes in the country’s history.

Comic actor Bolek Polivka is suing former business partner Tomas Harabis over the rights to the fictitious Wallachian Kingdom.

The court must decide whether Mr Polivka is the true “king” of the fairy-tale realm.
“Wallachia is a real place with real people and real history,” says Tomas Harabis, creator and “foreign minister” of the Wallachian Kingdom.

“But a lot of the attributes of the Wallachian Kingdom are not real,” he adds.

We are standing on the top of a mountain, watching the sun cast its long evening shadow over a forest of maple and spruce. Tomas is trying to explain to me where the real Wallachia ends and the fictitious Wallachia begins. (more…)