What?! The product in this ad isn't real? I'm shocked! SHOCKED!

November 19, 2008 11:53 AM

Institutional bodies, be they corporations or tourism boards, aren't often accused of having a sense of humor; their marketing departments even less so. Two recent examples, though, made me smile and/or laugh genuinely, after initially hankering for the products. I'm in IT, so I don't know how successfully viral these efforts have been outside my niche. I'm also too swamped to pad this post with previous examples of more and less successful/ham-handed viral marketing campaigns. I trust you all will use the comments to aid that effort.
Spoiler links: the corporation, the tourism board.
posted by yiftach (6 comments total)

I'm in IT, so I don't know how successfully viral these efforts have been outside my niche.

Successful enough to be on MetaFilter two weeks ago?
posted by rokusan at 11:57 AM on November 19, 2008

Aw, crap. I searched the archives, honest! I just tend to not use www., and the search didn't catch the URL. Still, I don't think the HandSolo was posted, so there's still something original here.
posted by yiftach at 12:08 PM on November 19, 2008

The handsolo actually looks less comfortable (if that were possible) than a regular cellphone. More convenient, though, I admit.

John Varley solved this problem in Steel Beach: implanted phones that you dial with your tongue on your teeth. (Heinlein previously had a related idea in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which Steel Beach is an answer to.)
posted by DU at 12:18 PM on November 19, 2008

Another phony phone.
posted by not_on_display at 12:18 PM on November 19, 2008

my fave fave phone - with the compressed wide screen and the Extra-large-5, it's well weapon.
posted by joelf at 12:34 PM on November 19, 2008

John Varley solved this problem in Steel Beach: implanted phones that you dial with your tongue on your teeth.

I think Andrea Martin had that phone in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
posted by rokusan at 12:46 PM on November 19, 2008