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Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
April 19, 2006 3:05 PM Subscribe

JetBlue Airlines' Route maphas a little trick up its sleeve. When the Flash Route Map loads - click on a city, then hold down your computer's SHIFT key and then type the letters P B J. You will be....surprised. I know I was.
posted by metaxa (91 comments total)

Hm. Odd.
posted by Lillitatiana at 3:08 PM on April 19, 2006

Wow.
posted by awesomebrad at 3:10 PM on April 19, 2006

I heard about this earlier today and was going to do a FPP on it, but I didn't want to get the person responsible for it in trouble.

oh well....
posted by pruner at 3:13 PM on April 19, 2006

Well that's...interesting. I'm guessing someone is very fired when this notice gets noticed. Cute though.
posted by Vaska at 3:13 PM on April 19, 2006

No Digg.
posted by ninjew at 3:13 PM on April 19, 2006

It's just not happening for me. I feel so left out and unloved.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 3:13 PM on April 19, 2006

It's on the front page of digg now, so it's going REALLY slow.
posted by empath at 3:14 PM on April 19, 2006

Yeah. The spinning loading graphic is stuck on 0%.
posted by birdherder at 3:14 PM on April 19, 2006

Someone is so fired. I wonder how they did that though.
posted by dial-tone at 3:15 PM on April 19, 2006

Maybe JetBlue requested that feature?
posted by mazola at 3:15 PM on April 19, 2006

You think this is a fire-able offense? Seems like viral marketing to me. I sure wouldn't have noticed all those spectacular flight routes provided by JetBlue otherwise. In fact, just now I was thinking of the cool, refreshing Pepsi I could enjoy on my flight from Long Beach to Phoenix.
posted by billysumday at 3:15 PM on April 19, 2006

I'm guessing someone is very fired when this notice gets noticed.

How many people do you think are going to hit the JetBlue webpage today because of this? You can't buy this kind of publicity.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:16 PM on April 19, 2006

i hope no one got fired for this, but i must say: that is freakin' awesome. While i'm not the biggest Family Guy fan, that segment has always been among my favorites from the show.
posted by quin at 3:18 PM on April 19, 2006

They must be a bunch of hip, fun folks and not some heartless corporation!
posted by 2sheets at 3:19 PM on April 19, 2006

~~Pepsi~~JetBlue
posted by crunchland at 3:19 PM on April 19, 2006

Needs more Mohammed.
posted by brain_drain at 3:22 PM on April 19, 2006

The thing that makes me think it's might be viral is that no one would ever do those steps by accident, so the chances of someone discovering it are pretty low.

Unless there are people that seriously go around trying every possible combination of everything to check for Internet Easter Eggs.
posted by dial-tone at 3:23 PM on April 19, 2006

First, calling Pepsi Blue on every post that goes to a corporate website is getting really fucking tired. Second, I doubt JetBlue put this in as a viral ad campaign; it's giving them far too much credit. Corporate viral ad campaigns usually end up like Sony's graffiti for the PSP or GM's make-your-own-ad which both bombed horribly.
posted by Vaska at 3:26 PM on April 19, 2006

I can tell you all with absolute certainty that JetBlue did not authorize this.

It was intended as a joke solely for the benefit of the creator's friends.
posted by pruner at 3:28 PM on April 19, 2006

dial-tone: actually it feels to me like someone put it in there for debugging purposes -- can we make a video pop up when someone clicks on a route? -- and it got left in when the map went live.
posted by The Bellman at 3:29 PM on April 19, 2006

dial-tone : "The thing that makes me think it's might be viral is that no one would ever do those steps by accident, so the chances of someone discovering it are pretty low."

There's another possibility: the guy who does it shows it to a friend, but "keep it under your hat, ok? I could get fired", who shows it to another friend ("Our secret"), and on and on...
posted by Bugbread at 3:30 PM on April 19, 2006

And third, most people who read Metafilter are too dense to see the similarities between the name "JetBlue" and "PepsiBlue."
posted by crunchland at 3:31 PM on April 19, 2006

you nailed it bugbread
posted by pruner at 3:31 PM on April 19, 2006

Since I doubt the programmer asked the proper copyright holders for permission to include this, I'd say he's fired.

1) Brought the website to a crawl. Basically DDOS'd the servers.
2) Put the company at risk via copyright violation.
3) General stupidity.

I imagine the perp being a MeFi member and coming across this post. Then crapping themselves and scrambling to reprogram the map. Or, better yet, realizing they're about to get fired for shenanigans and deciding to have some *real* fun.
posted by y6y6y6 at 3:32 PM on April 19, 2006

This is a great advertising ploy. Thanks for spreading it!
posted by cellphone at 3:34 PM on April 19, 2006

Frightening. I hope none of that gets into the flight computers. I can picture the 'gear up' mess already.
posted by buzzman at 3:34 PM on April 19, 2006

Bugbread: I was actually going to include that as the other possibility.

I forgot to mention that in the against viral category there was the whole Jetblue could get in trouble for copyright violation.
posted by dial-tone at 3:35 PM on April 19, 2006

Unless there are people that seriously go around trying every possible combination of everything to check for Internet Easter Eggs.

There are flash decompilers - and its possible someone downloaded the jet blue route map flash and wanted to see how something in their flash worked, and they stumbled upon this.
posted by SirOmega at 3:36 PM on April 19, 2006

That would also make sense.
posted by dial-tone at 3:39 PM on April 19, 2006

Yes, this is obviously a viral marketing campaign. That's why Jet~~Pepsi~~Blue have used a video clip which is blatantly ripped from a Fox broadcast, thus violating many copyright laws! Damn me for posting such an obvious PepsiBlue link! </sarcasm>

I think bugbread has it figured. If the designer is actually fired, I apologise for having exacerbated his downfall, but he'll have learned an important lesson in not fucking around with your employer's multi-million dollar website...
posted by metaxa at 3:41 PM on April 19, 2006

metaxa : I think bugbread has it figured.

I know for a fact that he does.
posted by pruner at 3:43 PM on April 19, 2006

Hrm. I think that it's pretty sad when the first thing we're all worried about is "OMG!1!! Teh COPYRIGHTs!!" Isn't that just what the MPAA wants?

For all we know, JetBlue licensed the clip. If not, I'm sure that we'll see some news article about it in the near future.

Otherwise, I'll just chalk it up as 'viral marketing.' It sure got a whole bunch of people to hit up jetblue.com, didn't it?
posted by drstein at 3:43 PM on April 19, 2006

Hrm. I think that it's pretty sad when the first thing we're all worried about is "OMG!1!! Teh VIRAL MARKETINGs!!".

Seriously, if you really think this is some kind of viral marketing strategy, you ought to spend some time away from Subservient Chicken and the Virtual Bartender.
posted by metaxa at 3:46 PM on April 19, 2006

pruner sure likes to speak with authority

I know for a fact that aliens are living among us.
posted by raedyn at 3:47 PM on April 19, 2006

sorry raedyn...

if you'd prefer to read comments from those who know not of what they speak, skip over mine.
posted by pruner at 3:50 PM on April 19, 2006

drstein : "Hrm. I think that it's pretty sad when the first thing we're all worried about is 'OMG!1!! Teh COPYRIGHTs!!' Isn't that just what the MPAA wants?"

Actually, I think the first thing that people worried about was "OMG!1!! Teh PERSON going to get FIRED!!", followed by "OMG!1!! Teh PEPSIBLUe!!". The first worry is far from sad, the second worry is just tiring.
posted by Bugbread at 3:52 PM on April 19, 2006

pruner is only quoting SCIENCE.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:52 PM on April 19, 2006

pruner,

You can't really have it both ways. Your comments so far have been appreciated, but if you're going to continue the "this is the truth" line, you're going to need to provide evidence, and if you'd rather not provide evidence (you may have good reasons not to), then it would probably be prudent to stop emphasizing that you know "the truth".
posted by Bugbread at 3:54 PM on April 19, 2006

OMG THIS IS VIRAL MARKETING. I AM MOST CLEVER FOR HAVING SOLVED THIS SCOOBY DOO MYSTERY.
posted by basicchannel at 3:57 PM on April 19, 2006

Taking everything into account, I don't think it's really viral marketing.

After all, it draws your attention to what, "Where Jetblue goes?"

That's not the company's strongest selling point, after all, they don't even come close to Chicago. or much of the midwest.

It's also not effective in that, after the initial OMG!!HIDDENFAMILYCLIP is found, people have no reason to view it again, the whole thing would die of too quickly to be a successful viral marketing campaign, especially considering the work involved in pulling it off legally.

Aside to pruner, if you do know the person who did this, you've just got to let Mefi know what happens to them and how they feel about it getting leaked.
posted by dial-tone at 3:58 PM on April 19, 2006

Looks like "the man" has taken it down.
posted by numlok at 4:00 PM on April 19, 2006

yeah, this isn't working anymore. so what was the video of? I'm assuming the 'Family Guy' peanut butter jelly time thing.
posted by raygun21 at 4:01 PM on April 19, 2006

bugbread

As I said in my initial comment, I chose not to do a FPP about it because I didn't want to get the programmer responsible in trouble.

I will not say anything regarding how I came to know about it because I don't want the programmer to get upset with the person who told me about it (since it was supposed to kept on the down low).
posted by pruner at 4:01 PM on April 19, 2006

pruner: I'd definitely prefer not to read comments from schmucks who believe the best way to keep a secret is by stomping around and waving their arms in the air while screaming, "Look at me! I KNOW A SECRET!!!"

We're all impressed with your importance and your inside knowledge. Now if you have something to say, say it; otherwise, shut up. ('Cause I know for a fact that you're wrong, that this was a viral marketing attempt by JetBlue. So there.)

As for the video itself: I find it to be a relatively interchangeable joke with no connection to the plot, er, content of the website.
posted by cribcage at 4:01 PM on April 19, 2006

FWIW, I'd be interested in hearing how metaxa discovered this...
posted by pruner at 4:02 PM on April 19, 2006

cribcage I wasn't trying to act self-important.

I was merely trying to clarify that this was not a viral marketing campaign.
posted by pruner at 4:03 PM on April 19, 2006

It's still working for me (and yeah, peanut-butter-jelly time).
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:07 PM on April 19, 2006

down low, noun.

"Usually it means to keep somthing quiet and to only tell people who are cool enough to know or trustworthy. This definition comes from the real meaning which is a black man/men who have sexual relations with other men but have relationships with women and hide the homosexuality and homosexual sex."

(source)
posted by nlindstrom at 4:09 PM on April 19, 2006

Actually, it's still there....just click on any city and type in "6 inch veggie sub with free Pepsiblue from S*BWAY!!" and it works fine.

psych!
posted by nevercalm at 4:09 PM on April 19, 2006

pruner : "I will not say anything regarding how I came to know about it because I don't want the programmer to get upset with the person who told me about it (since it was supposed to kept on the down low)."

Right. Which is groovy by me. But if you're going to keep your mouth closed (and you have good reason), then you should avoid saying stuff like:

"if you'd prefer to read comments from those who know not of what they speak, skip over mine."

If you don't provide evidence for why you should be believed, you shouldn't try to get people to believe you, because you end up looking somewhat foolish.

It's not so bad here on MeFi, but this is a perennial problem on video game boards. "The PS3 is gonna come with a TiVo built in. I know for sure, but I can't tell you why!" "Huh? Without telling us why, why should we believe you?" "I can't tell you, but seriously, I'm telling the truth, believe me!"...but I've seen enough of that "I can't give you a reason to believe me, but I command you to believe me anyway, and will mock you if you don't!" school of persuasion that I don't particularly want it to visit MeFi.
posted by Bugbread at 4:10 PM on April 19, 2006

LOL @ nlindstrom

I knew I should've just said "keep it quiet" instead.
posted by pruner at 4:11 PM on April 19, 2006

bugbread – I figured most MeFites were smart enough to take what they read (here and elsewhere online) with a grain of salt.

that being said, I get your point.
posted by pruner at 4:16 PM on April 19, 2006

I know for a fact that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. Don't ask me to explain because I don't want the ~~Cubans~~ ~~Mafia~~ ~~rogue elements within the US military~~ to get upset with the person who told me about it. Never mind, I've already said too much.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 4:19 PM on April 19, 2006

is it still working for anyone?
posted by pruner at 4:20 PM on April 19, 2006

I haven't seen it (because it won't load for me), but if you right-click on the Flash player that pops up, it says "This movie is copyrighted by JetBlue Airways". For my money, that means viral marketing, not secret webguy prank.
posted by CRM114 at 4:22 PM on April 19, 2006

FWIW, I'd be interested in hearing how metaxa discovered this...

Someone, whom I know very well, revealed the details of this peculiar little easter egg in an IRC channel I frequent. Where *he* got the information from - I've no idea.
posted by metaxa at 4:23 PM on April 19, 2006

The movie has been completely removed from the site now, it seems. That's a GRRRRREAT viral marketing technique!
posted by metaxa at 4:27 PM on April 19, 2006

Haha, the replaced teh flash with an image! Sucks for the developer...
posted by countzen at 4:29 PM on April 19, 2006

Well, now that it's gone, do any of the cognoscenti want to fill us in on what the movie was??
posted by CRM114 at 4:33 PM on April 19, 2006

It was a 30-second Family Guy clip (hence the South Park jokes), with the dog dressed as a banana singing about peanut butter and jelly.
posted by cribcage at 4:35 PM on April 19, 2006

Some clip from Family Guy.
posted by Bugbread at 4:37 PM on April 19, 2006

Oops. Bugbread toooooo sloooooow.
posted by Bugbread at 4:37 PM on April 19, 2006

Well, that makes me want to fly JetBlue.
posted by Mid at 4:41 PM on April 19, 2006

Ah. In light of that, I withdraw my previous hypothesis that it was viral marketing.
posted by CRM114 at 4:42 PM on April 19, 2006

FWIW, this stuff is pretty common. I'm a web developer, and while I'm certainly not going to call out WHERE this stuff was, I often dropped in (much smaller) harmless easter eggs.

For instance, on one site, if you manually change the query variable for a popup glossary, you get a picture of the project manager, along with a description of what to feed him to make him happy. On another site, back in the day (when it was still a wee bit funny), I had extra graphics on the production site (but not linked on any pages), each with a line from the "all your base" thing written in the site's proper header font and style.

Then again, this sort of thing generally fizzles out as soon as it becomes "official": I once thought to put in an easter egg that was far more clever and risky, and mentioned it to a co-worker -- the co-worker mentioned it to the PM, the PM mentioned it to the client, and the client announced "Hooray! If we have time in the schedule, let's put a bunch of easter eggs in! Submit them to me for approval, and we'll do it!"

Needless to say, there was suddenly no time in the schedule.
posted by davejay at 5:01 PM on April 19, 2006

Sure am hungry for a sandwich
posted by Feisty at 5:05 PM on April 19, 2006

For anyone feeling left out, here's a clip of the Family Guy PBJ clip from Family Guy. (via iFilm)
posted by mosk at 5:12 PM on April 19, 2006

JetBlew
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:11 PM on April 19, 2006

So....... You folks "in the know", did he get fired???
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:12 PM on April 19, 2006

FWIW, this stuff is pretty common.

Yeah, sometimes you get tired of being faceless and not getting any credit. So you put something like this in to show that you actually do something. OTOH, sometimes you get in trouble because your Easter Egg has a bug. And that's why they have change control...
posted by smackfu at 6:20 PM on April 19, 2006

late to the party, plus Shift-P is the Print command in Opera...so...what'd I miss? A popup picture of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or...?
posted by pax digita at 6:35 PM on April 19, 2006

Is there some feature of Opera that prevents reading a fairly short thread, pax?
posted by swell at 7:43 PM on April 19, 2006

Not being able to type capital-Ps must make it hard for you to type your name, Pax.
posted by todbot at 8:06 PM on April 19, 2006

todbot, he probably just "ALT+0080"s it.
posted by graventy at 8:25 PM on April 19, 2006

is it just me, or are the destinations no longer clickable at all?
posted by pruner at 8:26 PM on April 19, 2006

Not being able to type capital-Ps must make it hard for you to type your name, Pax.

I say P. I say PP. (Whoops, better watch that, or ParisParamus might show up.)

Hmmm. I can type cap Ps all night long...except on that site, where Opera wants to fire up my printer.

pruner, no, apparently not.

So...now that you've had your fun taking the piss, was that picture of a sandwich even worth it? I'm guessing not.
posted by pax digita at 8:49 PM on April 19, 2006

Destinations don't seem clickable to me either?
posted by zekinskia at 8:51 PM on April 19, 2006

pax digita

was your question regarding a sandwich directed at me?

if so, you'll need to explain what you mean before I can answer it.
posted by pruner at 9:04 PM on April 19, 2006

For the latecomers:
> Haha, the replaced teh flash with an image! Sucks for the developer...
posted by dhartung at 9:40 PM on April 19, 2006

It's no coincidence that "PBJ" form the first three letters of "Pepsi BlueJet".
posted by kenko at 9:42 PM on April 19, 2006

if so, you'll need to explain what you mean before I can answer it.

And even then, maybe he'll answer it, and maybe not.

But you WON'T KNOW UNLESS YOU ASK!

So go on! Ask! Say, "So uh, hey pruner! Got some sort of a big SECRET there?"

Ya gotta ask! What're you waiting for? Do it! Admit it ... you want to BELIEVE!
posted by swell at 9:56 PM on April 19, 2006

Hrm. I think that it's pretty sad when the first thing we're all worried about is "OMG!1!! Teh VIRAL MARKETINGs!!".

It is, but not in the way that you're thinking, maybe. The price of freedom from advertising is eternal vigilance.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:55 PM on April 19, 2006

I was certainly surprised that it didn't know I had Flash installed. More huge companies should really buy a mac for their web team, just to make sure everything works.
posted by illovich at 6:49 AM on April 20, 2006

I see no reason to doubt pruner, and I appreciate his insider information. No, I guess I wouldn't cite him in an academic paper or anything, but his information sounds trustworthy, to me. It's not like he has anything to gain by lying to us, unless he's looking to prank a very, very limited group: "Hey, look, the guys in that one thread on that one site are totally buying that I know a guy who knows the guy who did this!" Yeah, sure, we've had frauds here before, but, c'mon, let your guard down just a bit.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:49 AM on April 20, 2006

It worked in Safari, illovich.
posted by smackfu at 8:55 AM on April 20, 2006

GAAAAAH! I don't think it's working anymore is it not? Damn, missed it!
posted by mrhappysad at 9:39 AM on April 20, 2006

Its not working for me--therefore it doesn't exist.

Seriously, why would someone get fired for this?
posted by ParisParamus at 9:58 AM on April 20, 2006

It's gone. :-(
posted by Asparagirl at 10:30 AM on April 20, 2006

For what its worth, it worked fine for me just now, in i.e., ff was having trouble.
posted by walljm at 10:47 AM on April 20, 2006

Doesn't work for me in Firefox or IE.
posted by Songdog at 12:07 PM on April 20, 2006

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