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Tweets Go Black to Protest NZ's 'Guilt Upon Accusation' Law Avatars on Twitter are going ominously black to protest a new law, Section 92A, that's been passed in New Zealand. After the 28th, users can get their Revisionist Historians Add The Watchmen to Man's Timetable Every once in awhile you come across some viral propaganda that's actually pretty neat, actually. (Consider.) Hoping to reignite the sleeping flames of The Watchmen comic series fans, Rubber Republic launched a YouTube channel to populate with retro news stories. Commentary's mostly favourable and views are high: all signs of happy viral life. People seem impatient for more news stories to appear as the public release of The Watchmen draws near. (In theatres March 6, boys and girls.) We're suckers for an elaborate backstory, so this is some pretty cool shit. Hopefully the film will maintain the same fidelity to the spirit of the original comics. Find more goodies -- including a retro game, widgets and all the necessary social network tie-ins -- at thenewfrontiersman.net. One of the videos has also been posted below. Facebook's Scary Content Stance, Gatorade's Mid-Brand Crisis, 'This is Why You're Fat' - Facebook revises TOS, Twittersphere goes apeshit. - Wisdom from the front lines. Via. - Gatorade's new packaging and naming conventions betray desperate need to fit in with the minimalist lifestyle 2.0 crowd. Here's an idea! from reader Elinora: "Make a drink that doesn't taste like vomit!" Come on, Ellie, it's not Gatorade's fault; those are the electrolytes. - Hardees/Carl's Jr. slips into the Daytona via YouTube. Influencers Ads Bring Social Networking to the Tired Ad Banner So you know who Facebook's ad program lets people recommend/endorse various product to their friends? Wouldn't it be great if that were possible across the entire web instead of just within Facebook? Well, as a DR ad would scream, "Yes! Now you too can get social! And you don't need Facebook to so it! Call now!" OK, so how does it all work? PopularMedia has introduced Influencer Ads. Similar to rich media banners from the likes of Pointroll, Influencer Ads are large format ads but with social networking functionality added. Real Tax Payers of Genius Don't Squander on Ad Divas. It isn't immediately clear whether the Maryland Comptroller has an ingenious sense of humor or just really low standards, but "Real Tax Payers of Genius" -- a video effort to get taxpayers to e-file -- definitely left us with a queasy "What hath YouTube wrought" sensation. Word from a colleague: "I love how the screen says ifile ... and the voice says efile." But it was the papercut scene, and the digitally-enhanced voiceover, that stole our appetites. We can't hate on something we so deeply pity. So hey, MD, here's some help. (And warm clammy thanks to Jack for molesting us with this audiovisual gem.) Yep. Sippin' the Coraline Kool-Aid Pret-ty Heavily. Visit the deliciously dollhousey Coraline website. Enter the house, then click on the picture frame if you want to stitch buttons onto your face. Plenty to choose from, and each set of buttons is coupled with curiously thought-out descriptions. (That's the appeal of Coraline's marketing strategy: in keeping with the handmade motif, everything feels tailored to you, even things that obviously aren't.) Once done tweaking and zooming your button eyes, download and save; embeds are available for MySpace and Facebook. We also came across this Coraline Nike Dunks Giveaway offer. Okay, that's some pretty deep product whoring, but oh! we want them, just to have them, just because everything Coraline reeks of tasty dark girlwitch magic. Stone Tweaks Twitter Stance Co-founder Biz Stone wrote a blog post that elaborates on a suggestion he made earlier about monetizing Twitter. The crucial stuff: "Twitter will remain free to use by everyone--individuals, companies, celebrities, etc. What we're thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services." So businesses already using Twitter can chill: they won't be charged extra for what they're already doing. Stone seems to be saying -- and we write that tentatively, because he leaves a lot of room for interpretation -- that only add-ons will cost anything, unless he means Twitter plans to bring ad support to high-traffic areas. (Hot hash tags and Summize search results look prime for this.) "[We] hope to begin iterating on revenue products this year," he added. Sounds like Jeff Bezos et al. are starting to tap their watches. 'We Want People to Be Screaming from Houses Across the Country' Guerrilla Comm and Silicon Alley Insider scooped us on this Onion spoof on Sony: its complex, overambitious product line, and utopic rape-your-eyeballs ad strategy. Imagine all that in a news brief coloured by the profane angst-rage you suffer once you finally get that "motherfucking time vampire"* home. (Oh yeah, language NSFW.) "Maybe the Onion was inspired by 'BD-Live,' the confusing and ill-advised plan to integrate Blu-ray disc watching with instant messaging," said Alley Insider. And the sad part is, that crazy POS was real. If It Doesn't Seem Very Bright, That's Because It's Not. Then again, LA Gear has never been the sharpest tool in the marketer shed. Peer1 Preps Clients for that Big Pile of Clicks Big tech geek fantasy: when clicks fall from the sky and deluge him with traffic, burying his torso and filling his mouth, each depressed pointer button a little piece of validation. Like MacTeague's wife and her pile of gold coins. (Or, if you weren't an English major, like Scrooge McDuck and his swimming-pool vault.) That's the imagery Vancouver-based hosting firm Peer1 channels in "Slacker," a video ad where a lazy techie fails to equip his company website for a click-through deluge. Enter said "deluge." The piece concludes, "Peer1: Fully scalable hosting solutions." Problem, solution. Simple. 
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Source: Viral Video Chart
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