Sony and Zipatoni Blasted over Stealth Blog
Sony Electronics shut down a stealth blog for its PSP video game system last week after a nasty wave of backlash smeared Sony and its agency, Zipatoni.
The blog was roundly criticized, in its own comments section and on other gaming-related sites, for trying to dupe consumers into thinking that its fictitious author, “Charlie,” and his “Cousin Pete” were real.
Gamers bristled at the blog’s over-the-top hip-hop slang and an intentionally amateurish video that showed the two 20-something white men rapping about getting a PSP from Mom and Dad for Christmas, according to comments at the site.
The site, AllIWantforXmasisaPSP.com, went blank last Thursday. The video continues to reside on YouTube, where Sony first seeded it and at least a handful of YouTube visitors have reposted it.
Sony and Zipatoni were outed on the blog itself by tech-savvy critics who reportedly found the blog’s registration data through an online search, and tracked it back to Gregory Meyerkord at Zipatoni.
Commenters posted Zipatoni’s name and address on the blog itself, and site visitors had a heyday slamming the agency and Sony for insulting gamers with a fake—and lame—blog that made it look like PSP’s core user could be a grown man who speaks a ridiculous mix of hip-hop and high-tech slang and asks his parents for a gaming system.
Critics also blasted the site for pretending Sony wasn’t behind the blog, and for blocking words like “marketing” and “advertisement.”
Some comments even sneered over the tagline on Zipatoni’s own Web site, “Active Consumers. Activating Consumers,” with jabs like: “How many consumers has this Web site activated so far?” A “response” video on YouTube takes Zipatoni to task for “Sony’s failed attempt at viral marketing,” splicing cuts from the blog and from Zipatoni’s Web site and telling Sony, “We’re not that stupid.”
Neither Sony or Zipatoni returned calls for comment by press time.
