BitTorrent guerilla campaign nipped by pro-copyright movement

Before (via BI)

After (via BI)

You've probably already seen pictures of the mystery billboards that popped up recently in New York and California, which were soon revealed as a "free the internet" campaign for BitTorrent, "a decentralized, artist-owned publishing platform: a zero-cost alternative for media distribution."

Some people took issue with BitTorrent's claim to be a "a secure, distributed response to the challenge of data surveillance: a way to sync and store information, free from the cloud". One of them was American musician David Lowery.

In a rant published on The Trichordist, Mr. Lowery — a self-described "Luddite Artist" — included "the IP addresses, ports  and some sample Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven songs being hosted and illegally torrented by 33 Bit Torrent users".

 This is using one of the vast number of tools available to snoop on Bit Torrent traffic–think the NSA doesn’t use this for jihadi communications???? 

And to the folks illegally sharing my music?   You might want to ask what other naughty stuff I can see on your computer? 

Seriously, if I could figure this out in 20 minutes how hard is it for the NSA? FBI? Local PD? Hacker? 

Apparently BitTorrent doesn’t even understand how it’s own product works. Luddites.

On Tuesday, rightthemusic.com, an anonymous organization claiming to represent pro-copyright artists, has placed spoof banner ads on Rollingstone.com, The Drudge Report, Mashable, FileHippo, GrooveShark, MediaFire and more:

Here's one on Rolling Stone:

It sounds like the copyright battle is coming soon to some ads near you.

(Thanks to an anonymous reader for the tip.)

LG makes people think they're about to die... to sell monitors

Ads of The World's Ivan Raszl shared this guerrilla marketing stunt by LG, in which monitors were installed in the bottom of an elevator car to simulate the bottom falling out.

Understandably, passengers were a little startled:



Very effective way to get attention, in theory. But is it responsible advertising? While most of the people shown seem to "get" it almost immediately, a few were momentarily terrified. And those are just the ones LG chose to show us. (And who agreed to sign the release.)

Shocking people like this is fun when you're an observer. But I would not have been happy to be a patsy for this type of thing, even if it does show the product benefit.

On that note, if you go to the YouTube link, you'll see that there's quite a bit of controversy over the authenticity of this video.

Here are the top two:

The perspective down the lift shaft is always correct for the POV of the camera - NEVER for the lift's occupants. You can't make screens that create correct perspective for ANY angle of view! FAKE! 

- Mobilearn 

The perspective would look all wrong to the "passengers". Plus the image would be two dimensional. 

Did the makers of this ad really think people would believe this was real?
It's actually quite insulting. 

- Ami Yamato

And here's a recent, particularly damning one:

It's more that LG have obviously gone in and adjusted the imagery in order to attempt to make it look as if there actually is a shaft from the hidden camera's perspective, which shows that they are not showing the actual true account of what happened on the screens, ergo they are not telling the truth. That is all the "fake" claims are, LG have been shown to be happy to lie to consumers about their products.

- Arkesus 

LG UK doesn't seem to be engaged whatsoever in this conversation on their own social media channel.  Which might be the worst thing about this whole campaign.

Burger King crashes McDonald's

The Rome (Georgia) News-Tribune reports:

Rome Police were called to the restaurant at 2215 Shorter Ave. at approximately 1 p.m. by a manager in reference to a suspicious person. 

When they arrived, the manager said that a man dressed as the mascot for Burger King entered the restaurant with bags of hamburgers and began handing them out to several customers. 

He danced while inside the restaurant and stopped to take pictures with children. The report states that one child took a picture with him and ran away as he appeared to be scared. 

When the manager approached the man he said he was collecting for children’s charities. She noted that he had not collected any money during his time inside the restaurant. 

The subject then got into a white Acura. The manager saw him take off his mask and he appeared to be a middle age white male with dark hair. 

The tag on the car came back to a 2001 white Acura belonging to a Calhoun man.

Non-sanctioned prank? Probably. The "Woodcreek Faction American Surreal Comedy Group" took credit. But if it had been brand-orchestrated PR, it certainly worked.

Tip via BoingBoing

Cool guerrilla stunt launches TNT in Belgium

Vincent sent me this:



It's an awesome guerrilla stunt to launch the TNT network in Belgium. Awesome work by Duval Guillaume. Let's just hope it's not as staged as that Red Light District dance number.

Coke's latest ad tactic too dirty for New Orleans #FdAdFriday

Adland put me on to a New Orleans blog called NOLAFemmes, in which Coca-Cola is accused of defacing the city's Historic French Quarter and Faubourg Tremé with illegally stencilled road ads.

Blogger Lunanola writes:

"It is my opinion that the City of New Orleans is being pimped out promoted at an unprecedented level (to a degree that gives rise to what could be described as “neighborhood fatigue”). Such heavy promotion rarely occurs without unintended consequences: for example, illegal, ugly, and damaging guerrilla marketing campaigns. This kind of defacement is unconscionable and must be addressed immediately...  

Stated simply, the most significant difference between historic beauty and hazardous decay is cumulative, uninterrupted neglect. The continued degradation of the historic heart of New Orleans cannot remain unaddressed, particularly if one considers that our amazing city will be in an ever-increasing spotlight while hosting the 2013 Super Bowl and celebrating its 300th Anniversary in 2018."

I like the comment by Adland's kidsleepy better:

"It doesn't take much effort to realize why the woman would be upset. But I'll just go ahead and add more reasons to the list. Like: the lines suck. There is no idea here. And the advertising is a complete wank fest. 

If law-breaking is involved don't you think it would be worth the effort to, oh, I don't know, do something creative and smart and even conceptually relevant to the media 'buy?'"

I would just add that they should leave the outlaw marketing to real activists, and go back to exploiting polar bears and Santa Claus.

MILFs for sale #FdAdFriday

Ads of the World featured this interesting guerilla campaign by O&M Buenos Aires for womwn's organization AMMAR.

Apparently, 93% of the country's sex workers are mothers trying to make ends meet. The campaign aims to raise awareness for the need to protect these women with more progressive prostitution laws.

At first blush, however, the campaign seems like more of a way to scare clients away. Argentina's callgirls advertise using business cards left in public places. O&M created surprise fold-outs that showed the maternal reality behind the sexy promotion.

I'm not sure targeting clients is the best direct strategy, but of course these days innovative campaigns are all about indirect reach through PR and social media.

Are these golden arches untouchable?

We've seen logos done with flowers on embankments before. But with this evil-minded idea, Sean Click proposes a guerrilla form of brand creep that leaves a permanent mark on the landscape.

According to his site, he would design the logo using seeds of the California poppy, and:

"Since the California poppy is the state flower, the legislature has protected the plant. It is illegal to pick, destroy, or dig up a California poppy."

 Ha ha ha. But the joke is on Sean. Just like the trillium here in Ontario, the California poppy is no more protected than any other plant on public land. (You're not supposed to pick anything there, unless you are authorized to do so.)

Not to mention that poppies are prolific self seeders (like McDonalds, they are an invasive species in Europe). Even if left alone by state landscapers, the M would turn into a big yellow blob pretty soon anyway.

Tip via Buzzfeed