# Have you been the victim of underground marketing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 26, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982 "2004-07-26T21:06:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/21 "2004-07-27T05:42:41Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > A while back, there was some sort of bot that was running around posting replies to people’s LiveJournals, praising a movie and urging everyone to see it. The LJs hit seemed to be completely random, and it really got a lot of people mad. Personally, I screen all non-friends entries in my LJ, but I can understand that other people might not want to do this. I got something like that a few months ago. I think the bot (maybe person, but I think it was a bot. Just how the post read) was attracted by the fact that post I had made was about movies I was thinking of seeing. So of course the bot came up and tried to shill on my blog, it was deleted PDQ by me though and I screen entries since. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/22 "2004-07-27T13:34:12Z")
I’ve been asked to perform underground marketing for said stickers and t-shirts. I was on an internet site where I could supposedly listen to new music. The band’s song started playing, and it was decent, relative to most wannabe nu-metal out back then, 1 1/2-2 yrs ago. Then after that they asked me to take a poll about what I thought about it. Lame, I thought, but I played along. Then, at the end they said “Would you like to become an underground promoter of [this band], telling you friends how great they are in return for promotional materials”. Me: :eek: :eek: :eek: . I’ve only just listened to one song…I’m not **that** easy :)! I’ve only heard _maybe_ one band that I would have been that loyal to after hearing just one song\*, and lemme tell you, wannabe rage rock ain’t it. (that would be “Best Looking Boys”, The Promise Ring.) ---
**Author:** ![ElectricZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58f4c7/32.png) [@ElectricZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElectricZ)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/23 "2004-07-27T14:53:15Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > I think you’ve been hanging around here too much. 😉 SDMB, IMDB… I’ve got too many acronyms in my life!!! Auuuuughhhh! Either that, or I’m just a dumbass… Whoops! I just insulted myself… Off to the pit with me! EZ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/24 "2004-07-27T16:09:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Wow, Lynn, do we pay you enough to do all that research, monitoring and crap? I was going to say she is worth every penny but I read: > [@](#): > > Sometimes it’s a troll, in which case I cackle gleefully while squashing him/her like the insect s/he is, and remove all the posts that I can If you are having that much fun who needs money? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/25 "2004-07-27T17:34:38Z")
This whole discussion reminds me of a sub-plot in William Gibson’s _Pattern Recognition_. Attractive people are hired to chat up new products in clubs to start an advance buzz on the product. When I first read this, I thought that it was something that Gibson “invented,” for lack of a better term. But maybe he just noticed it happening online, and put it in the book. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/26 "2004-07-27T18:20:35Z")
> [@](#): > > But maybe he just noticed it happening online, and put it in the book. Its not just happening online. The example you give is exactly what is happening. In the 60 minutes story (no I’m not shilling for 60minutes) they had a hidden camera on a very attractive woman at a bar. She was sitting at the bar with a full pack of cigarettes in front of her. If someone asked her for one she would give it and start talking about how good it is. It was a new brand whose name escapes me. Another example was a “trendy” party which was thrown for the purpose of advertising a new brand of vodka. I don’t recall the name of the vodka either, lets call it Phlegm. At no time was the name Phlegm used in association with the party but it was the only vodka served. The product was prominantly displayed but the bartenders were not pushing it. The one thing that would make you think twice is if someone ordered a vodka and something they would substitute the brand name. “Can I have a screwdriver?” “One Phlegm and orange juice coming up.” I’m actually more interested in this type of advertising and if anyone has encountered it. I would be instantly put off if they tried to fool me and I found out. It seems it might backfire more than it works. Is there any proof that it works? I guess I am a little more tolerant of the shills on the internet. I’ve become numb to spam and trolls so I just ignore it. I’ve come to expect phony people online. Except here. Of course. I would be much more put off by it in person. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/27 "2004-07-27T18:27:12Z")
This type of marketing is often called “stealth” marketing, and it’s becoming increasingly common. Check out [this story](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/stealth_marketing020822.html): > [@](#): > > Sony-Ericsson is selling cellular telephones here with a large billboard and with herds of yellow cabs with rooftop signs. And they are selling the gadgets with Tom and Heather. > > Tom Sellwood, 24, is a handsome, clean-cut British actor who arrives with a backpack and his Sony-Ericsson cellular telephone. It’s one of the new ones with a digital camera attachment, which takes pictures and stores them. > > Sellwood loves acting and the theater but he hates being called a salesman. Heather Lane, a pretty 19-year-old singer and actress who works as his partner agrees. “I wouldn’t call it [being] a salesperson,” she says. “We’re not pushing anything on anybody.” > > And then the pitch begins. Sellwood asks a Times Square passersby a favor: “Would you take a picture of me and my girlfriend?” Almost everyone does. On the new Sony-Ericsson cellular phone with the digital camera attachment. > > “Don’t know how?” Sellwood asks, demonstrating how it works. “It’s easy. Look. Just push this button. This is so sweet. I just got it.” The recipients of the pitch become intrigued with the latest gadget in communications. > > Told later that Sellwood and Lane are actors and not actually tourists, some of the subjects are amused with the pitch. I love the way these “actors” rationalize that they are not _really_ salespeople. I also remember reading recently about a similar tactic used to promote new alcolohic drinks in bars. The company will pay a bunch of hip-looking twenty-somethings to go into a bar, and to order the company’s drink. The actors will then talk to each other about how great the drink is, and also attempt (in a not-too-obvious way) to get other bar patrons to notice the drink as well. Reminds me of the Simpsons episode when Moe is looking for women in a nightclub. The dialogue goes something like this: Woman (very perky): Hi there! Moe: Oh, hey, howyadoin’? Woman: Would you like to join me for a Bacardi and soda? Moe: Really? Me? Woman: Or maybe you’d like a refreshing Bacardi and lime. Or perhaps a Bacardi cocktail. Moe (suspicious): Say, do you work for Bacardi? Woman (very sarcastic): No, i’m in love with you. (slaps a sticker saying “Drink Rum” on his forehead, and walks away). ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982/28 "2004-07-28T01:20:04Z")
Thinking back, I recall that it was supposed to be the next big thing (this was circa 2002) to have people standing around a bus stop or something conspicuously playing with a new gadget, when people looked intrigued, they’d offer to let them try. A friend also told me that in LA, apparently there are people who are paid to go to a movie and when the lights go down, sometime between the previews and before the show starts, to shout out an ad for a product. Apparently it’s common to get two or more in the same theater. Don’t know how widespread that is, but if they tried it around here, they’d better be able to run fast, given the theaters I go to… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-the-victim-of-underground-marketing/256982.md?page=1)