In the beginning, there was Sega’s BETA-7 website, and it was good. Or at least original. Then came Burger King’s subservientchicken.com, and it, too, was good. Weird and stupid, but still good.

But then a bad thing happened. Your grandmother—followed by a bevy of Junior Account Executives and their bosses, various Brand Managers and a host of other AOL subscribers—caught on. And thus, the latest advertising cliché was born: the pseudo-site.

Now, apparently, you can’t offer a product for sale in the U.S. without creating an ad campaign that involves a fake controversy and corresponding fake website to go along with it. Witness lincolnfry.com (McDonald’s), axe2grind.net (Axe body spray) and iwantmyvacation.com (Universal Orlando Resort), to list those I’ve been exposed to in the last week or so. (In all fairness, the Universal site debuted last year, I think. Still, the trend is now in full swing and seems to be growing.)

Of course, ad agencies and their clients have been jumping on each others’ bandwagons in lieu of coming up with new stuff since time began. A fact you’d think journalists who cover the ad biz regularly would be the first to point out. Alas, The Wall Street Journal recently devoted an entire article to the news that McDonald’s was running a TV commercial that (pathetic drum-roll, please)….directs people to a web site! A sort-of wacky one! With fake blog entries!

Wow. Be sure to check out tomorrow’s big scoops on shaky cam, bleached film, mockumentary TV spots and print ads that make use of a crazy new thing called “white space.”

February 14, 2005 by Wade Sturdivant | Permalink | 0 Comments