There's a "road rage" video making the rounds lately and it features a Marine, Joshua Brightman spazzing out at a driver following a minor accident. Watch the video below:
Our thoughts go out to Brightman's family - it's bad enough having a family member who just quite isn't all there mentally, it's another to have it captured on video for the world to see. Great job on the part of the passengers in the truck who recorded the video, it takes a very strong person to remain calm and collected in the face of a clown not dealing with a full deck. Which is why this is all the more devastating for the Brightman family: Pendleton Marine "Sgt" Joshua Brightman, of the Echo Company Second Platoon Second Squad was supposed to be a leader, someone to be respected in the community. That has all been shattered now with his family members left to try to pick up the pieces.
We can only hope Joshua will now get the treatment he so so desperately needs - far, far away from civilized society. Whether it's a result of lack of attention growing up, or something in the genes, some people never seem to grow out of the toddler mentality.
It has been reported by San Diego 6 that following the incident, Joshua Brightman was cited and detained.
Showing posts with label viral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viral. Show all posts
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Pepsi fails miserably at viral marketing attempt
Corporations are always trying to figure out to take advantage of the power of online viral buzz. They see regular folks posting random videos of themselves or others and watch the Youtube hits skyrocket into the millions with little effort. For some reason though, when a corporation tries it, it often falls flat on its face. The reason is this: for a video to become a viral hit, it usually has to be genuine and not staged, like the kid who was stoned after his visit to the dentist. They didn't tell the kid to act woozy and pretend like he just juiced up at the dentist office - he really was doped up and was not playing it up for the camera with dreams of becoming an internet sensation. That's why it was loved by many, and that's why it fails miserably when corporations try to get it on the act.
The latest attempt comes from Pepsi, in their efforts to get the word out about Pepsi Max. The premise is this: professional NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon disguises himself and plays the role of a guy who doesn't know much about cars but is looking for a new ride. He and the car salesman meet outside and they decide to test drive a new Chevy Camaro. At first Jeff Gordon acts like he barely knows how to drive - doing the "stop/start" routine that 15 year-olds do when they drive their parent's car for the first time. He then lets loose and takes off like a lunatic, racing around the dealership, making maneuvers only a skilled driver could pull off, almost giving the car salesman a heart attack.
This would have been quite a hoot, except for the fact that it was completely staged. And not staged well. The car salesman, if he even was a real car salesman, was clearly in on it and the dialogue was obviously scripted. Somehow Pepsi had something to do with this - oh yeah, that's the hidden cam. The Pepsi can cam. But why do you need a hidden cam when everyone involved is getting paid to produce a viral ad?
What annoys us the most about these types of stunts is that they're actually good ideas most of the time. Why didn't they just do it for real? The genuineness of the salesman would have really shown through and it would have been extremely entertaining and viral. Instead, we get this fake, staged, watered down pathetic attempt at creating buzz which should be embarrassing for everyone involved.
Evidently it did fool one poor soul though, Chris Chase from the USA Today Sports section. He wrote of the "success" of the marketing stunt and took it on face value as being real. After readers pointed out to him that the stunt was completely staged, he added:
Barf! If that guy isn't on the Pepsi pay roll already, he should be.
The latest attempt comes from Pepsi, in their efforts to get the word out about Pepsi Max. The premise is this: professional NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon disguises himself and plays the role of a guy who doesn't know much about cars but is looking for a new ride. He and the car salesman meet outside and they decide to test drive a new Chevy Camaro. At first Jeff Gordon acts like he barely knows how to drive - doing the "stop/start" routine that 15 year-olds do when they drive their parent's car for the first time. He then lets loose and takes off like a lunatic, racing around the dealership, making maneuvers only a skilled driver could pull off, almost giving the car salesman a heart attack.
This would have been quite a hoot, except for the fact that it was completely staged. And not staged well. The car salesman, if he even was a real car salesman, was clearly in on it and the dialogue was obviously scripted. Somehow Pepsi had something to do with this - oh yeah, that's the hidden cam. The Pepsi can cam. But why do you need a hidden cam when everyone involved is getting paid to produce a viral ad?
What annoys us the most about these types of stunts is that they're actually good ideas most of the time. Why didn't they just do it for real? The genuineness of the salesman would have really shown through and it would have been extremely entertaining and viral. Instead, we get this fake, staged, watered down pathetic attempt at creating buzz which should be embarrassing for everyone involved.
Evidently it did fool one poor soul though, Chris Chase from the USA Today Sports section. He wrote of the "success" of the marketing stunt and took it on face value as being real. After readers pointed out to him that the stunt was completely staged, he added:
I've been recently told I'm a wet blanket when it comes to evaluating the legitimacy of viral videos, so I'll keep my opinions about this one to myself.
Either way, the salesman should have been suspicious when "Mike" put an unopened Pepsi Max in the cup holder. That's always a sign things are about to get nuts.
Barf! If that guy isn't on the Pepsi pay roll already, he should be.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Girls kicked out of school after racist rant goes viral on Youtube: What happened to free speech?
From The Huffington Post:
After two minors from Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Fla., posted a nearly 14-minute-long racist rant on YouTube, the girls are "no longer students at the school."
Watch the video for yourself here:
You may not like what they were saying, but what happened to free speech? For the most part they were simply speaking their opinion about the racial makeup and differences at their school. Maybe their assessment was entirely incorrect but maybe it was the truth. At the end of the day it's their viewpoint and they're entirely entitled to that viewpoint. We should defend all speech no matter how much it differs from our own views or offends us.
Apologies have now been issued by the girls:
It has been reported that the girls received several death threats and now had to have police protection.
Does nobody else have a problem with this? We have to put fear into people and beat into submission the people we disagree with and force them to apologize? It's complete bullshit. No one should ever have to apologize for their opinions. If you have a certain perspective or way of looking at things, as long as that's your honest opinion why is that something to be ashamed of? For all we know her school really could be full of a bunch of kids who don't give a shit about their future and that's what she was reacting to. Instead of pointing our finger at someone talking about a problem, why not look to see what she's talking about? She just might have a point.
By the way, take a look at this line from the apology letter:
You don't know where it came from? Oh I don't know, it could be that you experienced things and formed an opinion on them and then voiced that opinion?
Have a spine. How embarrassing for someone to have to pretend they don't have a viewpoint or feel shame in holding it. If that's what you really feel, then stand by it. Maybe the way you voiced it was in bad taste, but if there is a real problem going on in that school then that concern needs to be raised.
After two minors from Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Fla., posted a nearly 14-minute-long racist rant on YouTube, the girls are "no longer students at the school."
Watch the video for yourself here:
You may not like what they were saying, but what happened to free speech? For the most part they were simply speaking their opinion about the racial makeup and differences at their school. Maybe their assessment was entirely incorrect but maybe it was the truth. At the end of the day it's their viewpoint and they're entirely entitled to that viewpoint. We should defend all speech no matter how much it differs from our own views or offends us.
Apologies have now been issued by the girls:
"I am one of the girls who were in the racist video that got posted. I’m writing this so that I can tell people how truly sorry I am. I could never, in a million years, have pictured this happening with me involved. I wasn’t raised to hate people for their race, and I still don’t. I made a horrible decision in being a part of this video ... "
It has been reported that the girls received several death threats and now had to have police protection.
Does nobody else have a problem with this? We have to put fear into people and beat into submission the people we disagree with and force them to apologize? It's complete bullshit. No one should ever have to apologize for their opinions. If you have a certain perspective or way of looking at things, as long as that's your honest opinion why is that something to be ashamed of? For all we know her school really could be full of a bunch of kids who don't give a shit about their future and that's what she was reacting to. Instead of pointing our finger at someone talking about a problem, why not look to see what she's talking about? She just might have a point.
By the way, take a look at this line from the apology letter:
I know people are wanting to blame the parents for this, for our opinions and what we said, but I want it known that I wasn’t raised how I portrayed myself in that video. My parents never taught me hate or to judge someone like that. I honestly don’t know where that came from, but it was wrong no matter what.
You don't know where it came from? Oh I don't know, it could be that you experienced things and formed an opinion on them and then voiced that opinion?
Have a spine. How embarrassing for someone to have to pretend they don't have a viewpoint or feel shame in holding it. If that's what you really feel, then stand by it. Maybe the way you voiced it was in bad taste, but if there is a real problem going on in that school then that concern needs to be raised.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Update in the living room flour story: Husband Vince Napoli threatens to press charges against People Liking People. Bonus: Breastfeeding Flashmob
You may remember back in November this video that went viral for a few days:
Basically the mother, Mary Napoli, had thrown flour all over the house and then made it look like her kids had "gotten into the bag of flour and made a mess". But almost immediately speculation began that the whole thing was set up - the flour was spread just a little too evenly around the living room in places where small children would not be able to reach, and a half-second glimpse of the mother showed she was actually covered in flour herself.
We wrote a little entry about it and poked fun at the whole hoax, comparing it to the balloon boy incident. We also tried to be thorough in the information that we presented, and included Mary and her husband Vince Napoli's contact information. Evidently displaying publicly accessible phone numbers on the internet is a major crime, and People Liking People now faces being fired from the internet. We've been contacted by Vince Napoli himself who is threatening to do just that and also get his lawyers involved. See the comments below he left on our site:
Ok Vince, you have your lawyer look at it. He'll call you a fucking dumbass for wasting his time. You might as well file a lawsuit against Spokeo.com while you're at it too. OMG, an entire website dedicated to contact information? Somebody call 911!
But really, in a way we feel bad for the Napoli's. They wanted a little fame just like we all do, but instead of actually accomplishing something worthwhile they....threw flour in their living room. Come on guys, you'll have to do a little better than that.
Update: Mary Napoli is at it again. A friend of People Liking People has brought it to our attention that the mother was kicked out of the Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan last week for get this: a "breast-feeding flash mob."
From nydailynews.com:
It always seems like the people who don't have the capacity to feel shame are the ones that need it the most. What an embarrassment this has to be for husband Vince Napoli, who's just trying to quietly hold down his job at WADL TV. We're definitely starting to see a pattern here with attention whoring activities involving their kids. It's one thing to want to stand for a cause (by the way, breastfeeding is allowed in the mall, just not protests or demonstrations) or try to become a celebrity on Youtube, but when you're shaping young lives in that environment it ends up hurting us all in the long run. We can only hope that they end up seeking the help they so desperately need.
Basically the mother, Mary Napoli, had thrown flour all over the house and then made it look like her kids had "gotten into the bag of flour and made a mess". But almost immediately speculation began that the whole thing was set up - the flour was spread just a little too evenly around the living room in places where small children would not be able to reach, and a half-second glimpse of the mother showed she was actually covered in flour herself.
We wrote a little entry about it and poked fun at the whole hoax, comparing it to the balloon boy incident. We also tried to be thorough in the information that we presented, and included Mary and her husband Vince Napoli's contact information. Evidently displaying publicly accessible phone numbers on the internet is a major crime, and People Liking People now faces being fired from the internet. We've been contacted by Vince Napoli himself who is threatening to do just that and also get his lawyers involved. See the comments below he left on our site:
Ok Vince, you have your lawyer look at it. He'll call you a fucking dumbass for wasting his time. You might as well file a lawsuit against Spokeo.com while you're at it too. OMG, an entire website dedicated to contact information? Somebody call 911!
But really, in a way we feel bad for the Napoli's. They wanted a little fame just like we all do, but instead of actually accomplishing something worthwhile they....threw flour in their living room. Come on guys, you'll have to do a little better than that.
Update: Mary Napoli is at it again. A friend of People Liking People has brought it to our attention that the mother was kicked out of the Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan last week for get this: a "breast-feeding flash mob."
From nydailynews.com:
Mall security shut down a group of women about to launch into a breast-feeding flash mob at an upscale shopping center in Troy, Mich.
The group was led by Mary Napoli, who was confronted by a security officer when she sat down to nurse her 1-year-old son, Patch.com reported.
It always seems like the people who don't have the capacity to feel shame are the ones that need it the most. What an embarrassment this has to be for husband Vince Napoli, who's just trying to quietly hold down his job at WADL TV. We're definitely starting to see a pattern here with attention whoring activities involving their kids. It's one thing to want to stand for a cause (by the way, breastfeeding is allowed in the mall, just not protests or demonstrations) or try to become a celebrity on Youtube, but when you're shaping young lives in that environment it ends up hurting us all in the long run. We can only hope that they end up seeking the help they so desperately need.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Woman throws flour all over her furniture and blames it on her kids to make viral video
Wow, the length that some people will go to these days to "go viral" is getting more ridiculous by the day. So we have a woman who has thrown flour all over her living room, getting it on the couches, lampshades and picture frames. She then pretends to stumble upon her kids playing with an empty bag of flour and puts on her best acting job at being shocked and dismayed. Watch the video below:
Is what we've become people? All attention whores looking to be the next winner of the viral lottery? The woman, who goes by "mtmuzic" uploaded the video to youtube with the description:
She has since disabled the comments on the video (big surprise) but we were able to catch one left by "brunozi" who hit the nail right on the head:
Update 2: Thompson is her maiden name, she's now married to WADL Detroit TV employee Vince Napoli (phone # 440-835-0991) and assumes the name Mary Napoli. They now live in St. Claire Shores, Michigan. The family appeared on the Today show with Matt Lauer where she answered to accusations that it was a hoax just to get her 15 minutes of fame. This is looking to be very similar to the balloon boy hoax. Fortunately in this situation it hasn't wasted police resources, the only thing lost here is the Napoli's dignity.
Update 3: Vince Napoli threatens to fire us from the internet for posting his phone numbers, most of which were already public on his own websites. See the comments below and read more here.
Is what we've become people? All attention whores looking to be the next winner of the viral lottery? The woman, who goes by "mtmuzic" uploaded the video to youtube with the description:
Mommy was not feeling well and had to stay in the bathroom longer than usual during which my two boys, ages 1 and 3 took my new bag of flour out of the cupboard and destroyed my house. This is from ONE 5lb bag. Don't believe me? Hand a full bag to a 3 year old and see what happens.Yeah sure lady, that must have been some major diarrhea shit you had going on there. So far the video has 2.3 million views so I suppose the woman can chalk this one up as a success, but isn't a bit weird for a mother to be using her kids like this?
She has since disabled the comments on the video (big surprise) but we were able to catch one left by "brunozi" who hit the nail right on the head:
Update: A friend of People Liking People has informed us that the woman is Mary Thompson, an amateur musician from Steubenville, Ohio. Her e-mail addresses are mtmuzic@yahoo.com and happilynapoli@yahoo.com, phone #s are 330-618-6211, 330-655-5438, and 586-246-7341.
"You should go see a psychiatrist, lady. You poured flour all over your own house just to make a YouTube video? Seriously, go see a doctor. I feel sorry for your kids having such a distraught mom."
Update 2: Thompson is her maiden name, she's now married to WADL Detroit TV employee Vince Napoli (phone # 440-835-0991) and assumes the name Mary Napoli. They now live in St. Claire Shores, Michigan. The family appeared on the Today show with Matt Lauer where she answered to accusations that it was a hoax just to get her 15 minutes of fame. This is looking to be very similar to the balloon boy hoax. Fortunately in this situation it hasn't wasted police resources, the only thing lost here is the Napoli's dignity.
Update 3: Vince Napoli threatens to fire us from the internet for posting his phone numbers, most of which were already public on his own websites. See the comments below and read more here.
Friday, October 29, 2010
iwearyourshirt.com: The Dumbest Idea Since Unsliced Bread
More and more lately we here at People Liking People keep hearing about some new and exciting website called iwearyourshirt.com. This "buzz" is obviously contrived and the result of some sort of viral marketing campaign by the guys running it because there's no way this thing is ever going to get off the ground. I guess we'll give them a little credit for trying, but they'd be better off trying something more worthwhile.
iwearyourshirt.com has a handful of employees and it's their job to wear the shirts. They're hoping that small businesses trying to get their name out will be willing to fork over cash for their t-shirt wearers to wear their logo for a day, or however many days the company pays for. The way they price their t-shirt wearing service is pretty screwy: starting on January 1st of the year it cost $5, January 2nd it's $10, January 3rd it's $15, and the cost keeps going up in increments of $5 every day all the way to December 31 where it's $1,825. Apparently these folks don't just wear the shirt of your choice, they'll be posting youtube clips, blogging about their sponsors and various attention whoring activities.
Here's why the business model is full of fail:
It won't work financially for the employees. The amount of money earned by one of these shirt wearing guys is without a doubt going to end up being less $$ a year than your average McDonalds employee. Why don't you just get a job and make a real living?
There's nothing special about some random guy wearing your t-shirt. How about I just wear my own shirt for free?
A small handful of people wearing your logo on their shirt for a couple days out of a year, in a sea of 300+ million people will have absolutely no effect on anyone's bottom line or exposure and the return on investment will be pretty close to zero. You'd get much more mileage out of it if you just went around handing your business logo t-shirts out to random people. At least then there's a good chance they'll continue to wear that shirt for months to come. Whereas with these pricks, they wear it for that day you paid for and then throw it away afterward.
Their pricing scheme doesn't take into account any type of supply & demand. They set the price in stone for the whole year, sit back and hope people are willing to pay those rates. In the earlier months of the year they'll be selling themselves short at prices under $100, even if people are willing to pay much more. And in the last couple months they may have a hard time finding anyone willing to pay over $1,000.
Lastly, the #1 reason this will fail:
This is the guy that'll be wearing the shirts. I could see a company actually paying him NOT to wear their logo around, fearing consumers would associate this clown with their company and products.
Bottom line: stop whoring yourselves out and get a real job. This one isn't going to work out anyway.
I personally like this line here in their how-it-works section:
No, really guys! This is serious, see? We did the same thing in 2009 and 2010. This isn't just like some make believe thing we just came up with out of our ass!
iwearyourshirt.com has a handful of employees and it's their job to wear the shirts. They're hoping that small businesses trying to get their name out will be willing to fork over cash for their t-shirt wearers to wear their logo for a day, or however many days the company pays for. The way they price their t-shirt wearing service is pretty screwy: starting on January 1st of the year it cost $5, January 2nd it's $10, January 3rd it's $15, and the cost keeps going up in increments of $5 every day all the way to December 31 where it's $1,825. Apparently these folks don't just wear the shirt of your choice, they'll be posting youtube clips, blogging about their sponsors and various attention whoring activities.
Here's why the business model is full of fail:
It won't work financially for the employees. The amount of money earned by one of these shirt wearing guys is without a doubt going to end up being less $$ a year than your average McDonalds employee. Why don't you just get a job and make a real living?
There's nothing special about some random guy wearing your t-shirt. How about I just wear my own shirt for free?
A small handful of people wearing your logo on their shirt for a couple days out of a year, in a sea of 300+ million people will have absolutely no effect on anyone's bottom line or exposure and the return on investment will be pretty close to zero. You'd get much more mileage out of it if you just went around handing your business logo t-shirts out to random people. At least then there's a good chance they'll continue to wear that shirt for months to come. Whereas with these pricks, they wear it for that day you paid for and then throw it away afterward.
Their pricing scheme doesn't take into account any type of supply & demand. They set the price in stone for the whole year, sit back and hope people are willing to pay those rates. In the earlier months of the year they'll be selling themselves short at prices under $100, even if people are willing to pay much more. And in the last couple months they may have a hard time finding anyone willing to pay over $1,000.
Lastly, the #1 reason this will fail:
This is the guy that'll be wearing the shirts. I could see a company actually paying him NOT to wear their logo around, fearing consumers would associate this clown with their company and products.
Bottom line: stop whoring yourselves out and get a real job. This one isn't going to work out anyway.
I personally like this line here in their how-it-works section:
2011 days are sold at +$5 per day.Just like 2009 and 2010, the price will start small and increase daily. January 1 is $5, January 2 is $10, January 3 is $15 and the price continues to increase by $5 each day until December 31, 2011.
No, really guys! This is serious, see? We did the same thing in 2009 and 2010. This isn't just like some make believe thing we just came up with out of our ass!
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