Yesterday on Wizbang Pop! we linked to a hilarious billboard and blog at a site called That Girl Emily. The hook was this billboard supposedly commissioned by Emily herself:
Even before doing some background research we were skeptical. The last funny billboard tip we got turned out to be a scam and this one felt "scamish" from the word go.
It turns out that it was indeed as scam, initially taking in Fark and a few others. The story was quickly deconstructed, chiefly by the damning evidence of the same billboard in LA by BoiFromTroy and Will Thompson.
In fact the story went from the new hot viral story to a burned out disappointment all within one day - a new record. Those that linked to the picture in the morning publicized the debunking, led by Fark and Gawker.
And that's where the story stands today - no one really knows who is behind the hoax. Perhaps the folks behind the campaign (candidates include CourtTV, the movie John Tucker Must Die, and various banks) expected to get outed, or perhaps they didn't; but now that their cover is blown there is one thing you can do to really screw with them...
Make all their hard work disappear...
By using Blogger, the marketing firm behind this stunt might have covered their tracks, but they've run afoul of the Terms of Service for the Google provided blogging system. Google is pretty good about shutting down access to questionable site, you just have to tell them all about it.
Here's a sample message you could send...
- The BlogSpot site That Girl Emily has been exposed as a viral marketing campaign designed to look like a personal blog. The exact company behind the site is not yet known, but it is known that they've spent serious cash on two billboards - one in NYC and one in LA.
That Girl Emily's use of your Blogspot hosted blogging servers violates at least two of your Terms Of Service:
(c) impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Pyra [former owners] official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
(i) "stalk" or otherwise harass another;
The entire site is a misrepresentation, and the central theme of the site is that it will be publicizing a "14 days of wrath" harassment campaign by a jilted wife against her cheating husband.
The longer the hoax site remains online, the more likely speculation will emerge that Google approves of (or is being paid for) hosting the campaign. With the hoax exposed it's only a matter of time before people begin asking why Google is allowing it to continue.
If you have a blogger ID you can login and report the TOS violation right here. If you're not a Blogger user you'll have to find an e-mail address at one of the official Google blogs and send them your own e-mail.
Once enough e-mail about Emily and her hoax site make it into Google headquarters someone at Google pull the plug on That Girl Emily...
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Comments (19)
Am I the only one who doesn... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Craig | July 19, 2006 3:36 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Am I the only one who doesn't give a shit about this?
Even if it was viral advertising, whoppidy do. Maybe you guys should have waited, and seen if it turned into anything interesting.
Well, at least I was amused watching the blogosphere circle jerk each other over what a great detective job they did on this.
1. Posted by Craig | July 19, 2006 3:36 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 19, 2006 15:36
2. Posted by Paul | July 19, 2006 5:45 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It had the stink of a viral marketng scam from jump.
I just wonder who that was that spammed me with it.
2. Posted by Paul | July 19, 2006 5:45 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 19, 2006 17:45
3. Posted by Stephanie | July 19, 2006 5:59 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I don't understand why this is a problem...who cares??? I think it's funny.
3. Posted by Stephanie | July 19, 2006 5:59 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 19, 2006 17:59
4. Posted by Stephanie | July 19, 2006 6:00 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I don't understand why this is a problem...who cares? I think it's funny.
4. Posted by Stephanie | July 19, 2006 6:00 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 19, 2006 18:00
5. Posted by James Cloninger | July 19, 2006 10:22 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Am I the only one who doesn't give a shit about this?
Nope.
5. Posted by James Cloninger | July 19, 2006 10:22 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 19, 2006 22:22
6. Posted by thisplacesucks | July 20, 2006 3:20 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I think this is an attempt to resurrect it.
6. Posted by thisplacesucks | July 20, 2006 3:20 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 20, 2006 03:20
7. Posted by jennybear | July 21, 2006 9:01 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It was interesting and who cares who gave a shit or not? that is that. It is a hoax and now I can go on with my day.
7. Posted by jennybear | July 21, 2006 9:01 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 21, 2006 09:01
8. Posted by Breeni | July 21, 2006 9:26 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Who cares? Don't you have better things to do? Let them spend their ad dollars anyway they would like. Farce or not, it is clever.We got a kick out of it.I need to get back to work now...
8. Posted by Breeni | July 21, 2006 9:26 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 21, 2006 09:26
9. Posted by Paula-Sue | July 21, 2006 10:00 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
There's also a billboard in Chicago. Don't know who's behind it or if it's true but it's certainly entertaining, as are the blogs she links to on "her" blog.
9. Posted by Paula-Sue | July 21, 2006 10:00 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 21, 2006 10:00
10. Posted by Lori L | July 21, 2006 11:59 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
There are billboards in all major cities; Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc. This is a stupid campaign ad for Calvin Klein underwear. Looks like they are getting people to talk about it, but probably should've mentioned the company name a bit more.
10. Posted by Lori L | July 21, 2006 11:59 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 21, 2006 11:59
11. Posted by Ben Truthman | July 21, 2006 2:26 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Ever consider that the advertisers never expected anyone to believe it was real? Of course they WANT you to realize it's fake. This only qualifies as a hoax if you're naice enough to get worked up about this sort of stuff.
11. Posted by Ben Truthman | July 21, 2006 2:26 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 21, 2006 14:26
12. Posted by Eleanor | July 21, 2006 5:50 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I don't yet understand why anyone would be annoyed by this unless the author is obviously selling something. But I tend to be a bit clueless about this kind of thing - are they selling something? As near as I can tell, this is just a serial story, somewhat cleverly using Blogspot as a vehicle. At least it's funny.
12. Posted by Eleanor | July 21, 2006 5:50 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 21, 2006 17:50
13. Posted by Jason Jacobs | July 22, 2006 3:25 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Hmmm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0570780/
13. Posted by Jason Jacobs | July 22, 2006 3:25 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 22, 2006 15:25
14. Posted by Katie | July 23, 2006 2:02 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Jason Jacobs - That's a TV show about a much younger Emily. Definitely not the culprit.
14. Posted by Katie | July 23, 2006 2:02 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 23, 2006 02:02
15. Posted by MakeHimPay | July 23, 2006 8:36 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
My web site www.makehimpay.net was one of the sites this blog linked to. The amount of traffic that came from it slowly climbed for two days, skyrocketed for one day then crashed and burned the next. It was a quick death for such a planned and expensive media campain.
The photos were a bit funny though.
15. Posted by MakeHimPay | July 23, 2006 8:36 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 23, 2006 08:36
16. Posted by sueflokey | July 25, 2006 10:42 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
YOU must be Steven!!!
16. Posted by sueflokey | July 25, 2006 10:42 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 25, 2006 22:42
17. Posted by Ren | July 31, 2006 10:14 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It's a campaign for CourtTV. Here's the final entry in the "blog":
"Also, if you think someone is cheating on you, I definitely recommend the private investigator my brother used, Vinny Parco from Intercontinental Investigations. He’s a real straight shooter – he showed me what I needed to know but he did it with real sensitivity and compassion. I think he has a show on Court TV. "
17. Posted by Ren | July 31, 2006 10:14 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 31, 2006 10:14
18. Posted by disabluddypointed | July 31, 2006 2:31 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The actors in all of this should have been stabbed, in their stomachs, with rusty blades dipped in dog-pooh, to make them pay for their crimes against the internet.
18. Posted by disabluddypointed | July 31, 2006 2:31 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 31, 2006 14:31
19. Posted by Chris | August 2, 2006 1:00 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I just have a few quick questions regarding this. First it seems to me that if this is some sort of viral marketing campaign, the subject matter is a little to 'risque' for any advertiser to take credit. Would your company want to take credit for weaving an elaborate lie that mentions , at one time or another, porno, pubic hair, fluid stained bedsheets, etc? This "Emily" drops the F-Bomb in an early post..... who's the proud sponsor who decided this would be an effective marketing tool that anyone of any age has access to? I mean, from what I read, these billboards are popping up all over the country, which lends credence to this being a campaign of some sort.
But if it's for some upcoming movie, or TV show, or book... why tell the entire story for free? It doesn't seem to make much sense to me personally. Furthermore, if this IS for a fictional story, or a product, the little fact that she mentions another work of fiction (Resevoir Dogs - the movie by Quentin Tarantino) is a little odd.
Lastly, I think if this IS a work of fiction, the only people I can see benefiting from this immediately is blogger.com (blogspot.com) which is getting a huge amount of hits both to Emily's blog, as well as all the other people commenting about it.
19. Posted by Chris | August 2, 2006 1:00 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 2, 2006 01:00