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| “Natalie can still get under my skin. Ever since the accident, she’s been employing her most potent seductive powers. I’ve managed to avoid her advances. Mostly. Today she pushed me too far. I kicked her out“ |
| (gag.) |
I was watching a friend surf. She doesn’t have my zealous, guerilla attitude towards blocking advertisements, so this was an opportunity to see what I am missing. I was showing her Blogshares, when we noticed an odd series of ads. A sample is to the right. Another tagline was “Seduction, like chess, requires strategy.” First reaction: “Cool… a torrid courtship,” let’s click.
The links led to what initially looked like a blog. Well, actually a set of blogs from three (or four?) “people.” Each has a distinctive look and feel, none can write well. The big clue that these aren’t blogs is the small link at the bottom, “Terms of Service,” a synonym for “corporate.” Because it’s so cheesy and obviously some kind of marketing, I wanted to find out more.
As best as I can determine, it’s some kind of virtual treasure hunt for urns. Supposedly, we’re to pick out “clues” from each of the personalities’ blog entries and do something with it… this is where it gets hazy. Somehow, this will relate to the the corporate sponsor, Sharp’s Aquos line of LCD TVs.
We don’t know, nor do we care. My friend and I were confused and frustrated we had spent way too much time trying to understand the mini marketing-drama. Attention Sharp Aquos marketing: you hooked us into clicking through, but you lost us.