Fakin’ It: A Marketer Intends to Tease Consumers

NYT has a piece up on another mobile content company with questionable marketing tactics…”The campaign has also revived a question that is routinely asked in the advertising industry: is it acceptable to use advertising to trick consumers?”
The campaign in question is Pherotones, ringtones that are supposed to make you attractive to the opposite sex, which did the rounds of the blogosphere last month. I didn’t report on it because the science was unsound, and also because I think you shouldn’t rely on pheromones or tricks to get a partner but rather develop a decent personality. Anyway, it turns out the whole thing was a viral campaign by Oasys Mobile (formerly Summus) to generate interest in the new brand.
Oasys is now offering a $6900.69 “research grant”, which is really a prize for the best video showing a link between a “pherotone” and the attraction of the opposite gender. Of course, Oasys can do what it likes with all entries…
So, clever marketing trick or deceitful, underhanded trick? Who knows…but: “You run the risk in any campaign like this that you might offend somebody…But even if you offend somebody, it seems to spread the gospel of the campaign.”

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