Publicity Stunts - The Art of the Prank

August 6, 2007January 15, 2019

Author of Fake Steve Jobs Blog Outed

“˜Fake Steve” Blogger Comes Clean
by Brad Stone
New York Times
August 5, 2007

San Francisco “” For the last 14 months, high-tech insiders have been eating up the work of an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steven P. Jobs, Apple”s chief executive and one of the world”s most famous businessmen.

The mysterious writer has used his blog, the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, to lampoon Mr. Jobs and his reputation as a difficult and egotistical leader, as well as to skewer other high-tech companies, tech journalists, venture capitalists, open-source software fanatics and Silicon Valley”s overall aura of excess.

The acerbic postings of “Fake Steve,” as he is known, have attracted a plugged-in readership “” both the real Mr. Jobs and Bill Gates have acknowledged reading the blog (fakesteve.blogspot.com). At the same time, Fake Steve has evaded the best efforts of Silicon Valley”s gossips to discover his real identity. Continue reading “Author of Fake Steve Jobs Blog Outed”

August 3, 2007January 15, 2019

Guilty until proven innocent — A raw deal

Sushi Joint Takes Dig at Bonds
by Colleen Slevin

Denver (AP) — As Barry Bonds pushes for home run No. 755 to tie one of baseball’s most hallowed records, a Colorado sushi restaurant is celebrating the man who set the record – Hank Aaron.

Hapa Sushi Grill ran a half-page ad Thursday in the satirical weekly The Onion that read “Congratulations Hank Aaron on 755 home runs.” At the bottom of the page, the ad continues: “Organic beef and chicken, no added steroids.” Full-page ads are planned for two Boulder, Colo., daily newspapers starting Friday.

Hapa, which has two locations in Boulder and one in Denver, previously has used skinny sumo wrestlers and flaming bags of fast-food hamburgers in its ads to promote its healthy Japanese food. Continue reading “Guilty until proven innocent — A raw deal”

August 3, 2007January 15, 2019

Flash Mob Marketing: Culture Jamming Co-Opted

[Editor’s Note: The below link has some factual errors. The photo of the No-Pants mission in London is actually of Charlie Todd’s Improv Everywhere event in NYC, and the Best Buy event took place at Target in 2006, not 2007.]

From 1 Million 1 Shot, August 2, 2007:

Flash Mobs, Culture Jams, and other Impromptu Rallies

On January 13, 2007, over 300 people participated in the largest No-Pants mission that invaded the London”s Underground, for no other purpose than to freak other riders out. They rallied using text messages.

In San Francisco on Valentine”s Day of 2007, a group of 4,000 individuals, split into two groups wielding pillows, and lined up across from another in a Braveheart-like scenario. As the clock struck 6 o”clock the two groups ran full speed at one another, and proceeded to pillow fight for over an hour. Attendees were informed of the location and time via a website, through texts messages, and countless emails.

Continue reading “Flash Mob Marketing: Culture Jamming Co-Opted”

August 1, 2007January 15, 2019

Musings on Werner Herzog

Here, as an addition to this post written several days ago, are some clips posted on YouTube by consumerguide from Les Blank’s classic 1980 short, “Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.” The film documents Herzog fulfilling a bet he made with Errol Morris: if Morris would finish his brilliant first feature “Gates of Heaven,” Herzog said he would eat his shoe. He uses this public stunt to say some very serious things about American pop culture, filmmakers becoming “clowns” to promote their work, and the culture of images (or lack thereof).

Werner Herzog’s new film Rescue Dawn is getting interesting reviews.

Ponder Stibbons of The truth that makes me fret is reading Herzog on Herzog (written by Werner Herzog with Editor Paul Cronin) and shares some thoughts on the book:

Notable quotes —

In response to “What are your views on film schools?”:

Actually, for some time now I have given some thought to opening a film school. But if I did start one up you would only be allowed to fill out an application form after you had travelled alone on foot, let”s say from Madrid to Kiev, a distance of about 5,000 kilometres. While walking, write. Write about your experiences and give me your notebooks. I would be able to tell who had really walked the distance and who had not. While you are walking you would learn much more about filmmaking than if you were in a classroom”¦ academia is the very death of cinema. It is the very opposite of passion.

On the mysterious “something else” (that is not happiness) he seems to be after:

July 29, 2007January 15, 2019

Trying hard to ketchup

Illinois Town Tries to Ketchup to Record
July 28, 2007

Collinsville, Ill. (AP) — First came the world’s largest ketchup bottle. Now this southern Illinois community is after the record for the world’s largest ketchup packet.

Collinsville has partnered with the H.J. Heinz Co. to fill an 8-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide plastic pouch with 1,500 pounds of the tomato goop for a school fundraiser.

“That’s a lot of ketchup,” said Tracey Parsons, a Heinz spokeswoman.

The company donated 4,000 glass bottles of the condiment for people to buy for $1 and pour into the packet. Proceeds will go to the Collinsville Christian Academy, which was damaged by a fire this week. Continue reading “Trying hard to ketchup”