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August 4, 2006
Penguins, breadcrumbs, and oil, oh my!
In what seems to be a "very special episode" of Punk'd, news reports this morning tell the story of a seemingly tongue-in-cheek animated short posted to YouTube that appears to have been created by PR firm DCI.
DCI isn't commenting on their clients or the work they do for their clients. The lampooning of "An Inconvenient Truth" is all but a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the cottage of a particular fossil fuel merchant. But the posting raises ethical questions of disclosing the true source of such items in a public forum on the web -- particularly as more information seekers turn to alternative resources for facts.
As it is, this tactic fell on its face. Could be that someone thought a campaign antithetical to the "Blair Witch Project" publicity efforts would effectively undermine the credibility of a film they disagree with. No doubt the company who commissioned this video wanted to find a new way to communicate their message than just a standard press release, but this video did not meet that need.
I don't think that Jonathan Swift's descendants should feel this even crowds their satire turf. They'd be justified if they felt just a little miffed, though.
Posted by Sarah Voigt at August 4, 2006 9:38 AM
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