As an adult corporate type, I am mildly horrified. As a mental 12-year-old, I am thrilled.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=146559 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- First BP was targeted with a satirical Twitter feed, and now oil giant Chevron has been hit by pranksters hijacking its corporate-public-relations efforts. While the prank may go unnoticed by consumers, it does raise issues for both marketers and media. The hoax that Chevron is now grappling with is far more elaborate and is timed to the launch of an ad campaign<http://www.chevron.com/about/advertising/> from the San Ramon, Calif.-based company and its lead agency, Dentsu-owned McGarryBowen. [image: Fake Chevron press release] [image: Enlarge] <http://adage.com/article?article_id=146559> The site looks real, but the press release is a sham. Not only was a fake website created <http://www.chevron-weagree.com/> that parodied the real campaign, but fake press releases were sent out, including one posted to a site that looks remarkably similar to Chevron's actual website<http://chevron-press.com/article/Radical-Chevron-Ad-Campaign-Highlights-Industry-Problems/>. That release uses fake quotes by Rhonda Zygocki, Chevron's VP-policy, government and public affairs, and Gordon Bowen, chief creative officer of McGarryBowen. As part of the prank, there was even a fake story planted on a fake Ad Age site <http://advertisngage.com/moy2010/article.php?article_id=146528>. Ad Age received calls Monday morning from someone purporting to be a Chevron spokesperson saying an erroneous story was posted to the AdAge.com. While the story looked real -- the masthead and frames were swiped from a Marketer of the Year story posted to AdAge.com and the text was replaced with a Chevron story -- the URL was a fake, one that misspelled the "advertising" in advertisingage.com (and there was no byline on the piece). more... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:329352 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
