Cthulhu Blue

July 11, 2007 2:26 PM

I smell a shitty viral campaign!
posted by adamgreenfield to Etiquette/Policy at 2:26 PM (52 comments total)

Uh. And?
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:37 PM on July 11, 2007

The entire freakin' Web is just a long viral campaign to sell computer products, man.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:40 PM on July 11, 2007 [3 favorites]

ok?
posted by puke & cry at 2:43 PM on July 11, 2007

Do you want a cookie?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 2:46 PM on July 11, 2007

Mmm, it smells like new car. New 2008 Nissan® Titan® with the A100 Rockford Fosgate® Package, to be exact.
posted by Plutor at 2:50 PM on July 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

Huh, I was under the impression that folks who sign up hereabouts simply to seed the site with spamtastic links generally get the b-hammer. Scusi!
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:51 PM on July 11, 2007

We're through the looking glass, people.
posted by EatTheWeek at 2:51 PM on July 11, 2007

adamgreenfield, do you have any compelling reason to suggest that someone in that thread signed up simply to seed the site with spamtastic links? Because, I mean, I really like using the banhammer, but we need a little more to go on.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:54 PM on July 11, 2007

If s/he signed up 3 months ago just to post this link, I say good on them for being so organized.
posted by GuyZero at 2:54 PM on July 11, 2007

jiiota's been around since April '07. I know that a high user number makes you a Metanobody, but this user has a pretty steady posting history with nary a mention of viral marketing before today.
posted by EatTheWeek at 2:56 PM on July 11, 2007

Oh, I didn't notice it was new guy. I doubt he's some viral douche since it wouldn't take someone working for the campaign for it to get here. Speculation about this has been all over the place since Transformers opened. People have been intrigued about it.
posted by puke & cry at 2:58 PM on July 11, 2007

Color me hairtrigger, then, with apologies to the relevant parties...
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:01 PM on July 11, 2007

Sorry adam, but now we get to whip you.
posted by puke & cry at 3:08 PM on July 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

When a viral comes along
You must whip it
Before the PepsiBlue sits out too long
You must whip it
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:18 PM on July 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

Sometimes viral campaigns are the best of the web.

I think The Beast from the AI movie was when the web jumped the shark, though. Everything was downhill after that.
posted by empath at 3:21 PM on July 11, 2007

Smell? The words viral and marketing are right there in the post. Despite, or probably because of, my general dislike for advertising, I am interested in certain examples. I've posted links to viral marketing sites before and I was considering an FPP about the various viral sites surrounding Doctor Who season 3.
posted by nthdegx at 3:36 PM on July 11, 2007

Meh. It's clearly bacterial.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:38 PM on July 11, 2007

Three weeks of antibiotics might get rid of it.
posted by misha at 4:11 PM on July 11, 2007

On the other hand. Cthulhu Blue sounds like a great whiskey - rock band.
posted by lazaruslong at 4:12 PM on July 11, 2007

New cars just don't smell like they used to. You kids don't know what you're missing.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:48 PM on July 11, 2007

yay, I'm a metanobody!
posted by desjardins at 5:00 PM on July 11, 2007

Before the cream sits out too long.
posted by Elmore at 5:20 PM on July 11, 2007

Yog-Sothoth the Goat With 10,000 Young must whip it.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:36 PM on July 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

I'd drink a whiskey called Cthulhu Blue, but I dunno about listening to a band with that name. It sounds a little to emo for my tastes.

'emo' in this context being 'emotional about having your soul devoured by the old ones.'
posted by quin at 5:39 PM on July 11, 2007

Cthulhu Blue sounds like a great whiskey - rock band.

or some kind of occult cologne.
posted by jonmc at 5:46 PM on July 11, 2007

Or, a Satanist Neo Nazi musical girl duo.

Or, a soft core porn flick with a fantasy/occult "plot".
posted by Chuckles at 6:18 PM on July 11, 2007

I think Cthulhu Blue should be a nail polish color.

Because then it would make it really easy to know who the girls I want to marry are.
posted by Cyrano at 7:07 PM on July 11, 2007

I thought you were talking about the life-like porn star doll.
posted by davy at 7:08 PM on July 11, 2007

Cthulhu Blue would make a great bathroom paint color.
posted by amyms at 7:42 PM on July 11, 2007

Or, a soft core porn flick with a fantasy/occult "plot".

Cthulhu Blue Balls?
posted by treepour at 9:02 PM on July 11, 2007

cortex LIKES using the banhammer. The way he makes it sound, I'm gonna have to get into some trouble.

Seriously now, adamgreenfield, have you really been around since '02? Holy fried Jesus Peas!!1!!!!
posted by snsranch at 9:14 PM on July 11, 2007

If it's any consolation Adam, your reaction was the same as mine.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:18 PM on July 11, 2007

I don't know what the posters motivation was but it's a well composed post about something I probably wouldn't have seen (or paid attention to) otherwise.

If the guy turns out to be a shill, cortex or somebody can break out the hammer but without something solid to go on, why not enjoy it for what it is?
posted by cedar at 9:40 PM on July 11, 2007

I smell a shitty viral campaign!

Sorry, that was me. Damn 삼겹살's repeating on me.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:05 PM on July 11, 2007

Meh. That's the game, though isn't it. If you work for a viral marketing company, it's part of your job to have one or more sleeper accounts on sites like this that each look perfectly genuine and non-shill like, so that when the time comes, you can splurge each one with your adverts masquerading as posts, relying on people's natural tendency to give you the benefit of the doubt in order to get away with it. Without an explicit anti-viral marketing campaign policy, which would be tough to implement in such a way as to hit the sleeper accounts without catching the people who had genuinely been taken in, there's not a lot that can reasonably done. But the bad taste? It remains in the mouth.
posted by motty at 11:12 PM on July 11, 2007

I've been a sleeper here for years, but people keep a-kicking me awake.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:18 AM on July 12, 2007

I don't think this person is a shill, but I do think that it may not be a bad idea to get tough on virals and stealth advertising generally. If it's viral, it can be found everywhere else and doesn't really need to be "filtered" here, I think. (And anything that makes it more difficult for astroturfers to find a toehold on Mefi is a good thing).
posted by taz at 12:40 AM on July 12, 2007

While many of these viral campaigns have interesting content (which is kind of the point, yeah, I know) that makes them prime targets for MeFi, it does leave a slight bad taste in my mouth. Not because we fall for the marketing shill, but because we become part of the shill. The whole idea leaves a bad, but non-specific taste in my mouth.
posted by dg at 12:50 AM on July 12, 2007

Meh. That's the game, though isn't it. If you work for a viral marketing company, it's part of your job to have one or more sleeper accounts on sites like this that each look perfectly genuine and non-shill like, so that when the time comes, you can splurge each one with your adverts masquerading as posts, relying on people's natural tendency to give you the benefit of the doubt in order to get away with it.

Then, to get even more attention, you use another account make a MetaTalk post complaining about the original post!
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:01 AM on July 12, 2007

Then, to get even more attention, you use another account make a MetaTalk post complaining about the original post!

Now that's the way to do it, for sure!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:55 AM on July 12, 2007

As a former maker of 'viral marketing' campaigns (ARGs to be specific) I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's not as if the post tried to conceal the fact that there was viral marketing involved, and that it was a promotion for a film. As for the notion that it's a shilling for the movie, it's not as if we don't have posts about movies, TV shows, games or Apple products around here, is it?

The real question should be, is the subject of the post interesting? If the viral campaign is interesting and entertaining, fine. If it's not, then it shouldn't be posted.
posted by adrianhon at 6:22 AM on July 12, 2007

Hi, guys. I probably should have been more discerning for my first post. I thought I might get a cry of 'pepsi blue,' but I didn't imagine I would be suspected of working for a viral marketing company. For what it's worth, I'm a Ruby on Rails web developer in Hollywood Florida, not a studio shill in Hollywood California.

This is actually my second post. My first, a double about the wyoming easter egg, was deleted. That egg was pretty funny, though.

I have been a very long time lurker. If it helps, I can post a photo of myself with my metafilter t-shirt, but nobody really wants to see that. I suppose that doesn't really prove anything anyway. I guess I'll have to come up with a better, non-marketing link pretty quickly if I am to redeem myself. Resisting the temptation to add a smiley here.
posted by jiiota at 6:22 AM on July 12, 2007

For what it's worth, jiiota, it doesn't look like you were suspected very strongly or consistently. adamgreenfield got a whiff and ran a bit eagerly with it—these sorts of callouts tend to vacillate between genuine scooby squadery and off-target snipe hunts—but there's really nothing to suggest foul play in this case other than a committed suspicion of anything marketing-related, so far as I can tell.

One of the great disadvantages of kicking off with a new handle is that people generally have no idea you had an old one. Not that, lacking evidence other evidence, that should make a bit of difference, but a 52K userid may get a little bit more sniff-test action than a 19K, dig?

You're solid, dude.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:34 AM on July 12, 2007

We're through the looking glass, people.

Okay, this is driving me nuts. What's this from... Heat? Spartan?
posted by dobbs at 7:59 AM on July 12, 2007

Oliver Stone's JFK
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:15 AM on July 12, 2007

I'll bet the division of opinions is drawn along those who wear t-shirts with advertising logos, and those who refuse to wear advertising...
posted by five fresh fish at 9:00 AM on July 12, 2007

dobbs: Matrix?
posted by five fresh fish at 9:01 AM on July 12, 2007

Right, it's JFK. Thanks, Henry.
posted by dobbs at 9:45 AM on July 12, 2007

I'm pretty sure that was Stargate. Or C.H.U.D.—the two run together sometimes.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:52 AM on July 12, 2007

It was also used in Spartan (kinda)

Scott : You wanted to go through the looking glass. How was it? Was it more fun than miniature golf?
posted by quin at 10:29 AM on July 12, 2007

[2F07] Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy
posted by blue_beetle at 12:21 PM on July 12, 2007

sorry, that episode quotes JFK
posted by blue_beetle at 12:22 PM on July 12, 2007