Brazilian Blogger Bash

August 21, 2007 10:35 AM

Brazilian Blogger Bashing! The respected Brazilian newspaper Estadao decided to promote its new online presence by jokingly producing a series of ads with obvious misfits and asking such questions as "Is this the guy giving you dating advice?" and a video (youtube) comparing bloggers to monkeys. Bloggers are outraged "Why would you read a newspaper that compares bloggers to monkeys?". In today's newspaper, Estadao offers no apology but instead dryly recounts the facts. Meanwhile, the resulting controversy, with thousands of blogs weighing in, has driven a lot of traffic to their new site.
posted by vacapinta (25 comments total)

Silly bloggers! That's a chimp, not a monkey.
posted by gubo at 10:42 AM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

"Is this the guy giving you dating advice?"

Whereas newspaper journalists are known for being chest-hair-laden studs muffin.
posted by DU at 10:44 AM on August 21, 2007

Adorei, vacapinta, but I won't be surprised if people start complaining that they can't read all of the links, because they are in Porkn'cheez instead of Engrish.
posted by msali at 10:47 AM on August 21, 2007

foi muito engraçado. obrigado!
posted by Stynxno at 10:55 AM on August 21, 2007

Absurd and insulting; monkeys play an important role in our world.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:56 AM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Holy shit, Bloggers are outraged??!!

I never thought I'd see the day.
posted by Muddler at 10:58 AM on August 21, 2007 [7 favorites has favorites]

It's not just the bloggers they are insulting. It's also the readers who aren't smart enough to tell the difference between a professional and a monkey and, so, need to be warned and guided. Not very clever advertising, I'd say.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 11:04 AM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

adsfih ljberyt,m sadf to be or not to be that is the sdfghpo poiq,mna
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:05 AM on August 21, 2007

I think boingboing reported speculation that this was a clever campaign by the newspaper to get folks to link to them. Looks like it worked - maybe a moderator can inserts a "nofollow" tag or something.
posted by exogenous at 11:16 AM on August 21, 2007

the sheer self-belief (or is it self-righteousnesss) of many bloggers in the importance of their mission continues to crack me up.

they're the same people who think that the CNN/Youtube debates will "revolutionize" politics because people can ask pre-taped questions and upload them, instead of reading their pre-written questions in person.
posted by modernnomad at 11:28 AM on August 21, 2007 [4 favorites has favorites]

I didn't know about boingboing. Undoubtedly, they're probably right but if this was some small rag trying to get attention it wouldnt be worth it.

But boingboing lacks international perspective....This was a major ad campaign by an already well-known newspaper in one of the largest cities in the world, read by millions of Brazilians. I don't see the bad effect of a few hits from mefi. It'd be like worrying about sending a few extra hits to the New York times.
posted by vacapinta at 11:31 AM on August 21, 2007

See no evil, hear no evil, click no evil.
posted by ZachsMind at 11:48 AM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

...olas, I eikl annbaas
posted by ZachsMind at 11:53 AM on August 21, 2007

...people can ask pre-taped questions and upload them, instead of reading their pre-written questions in person.

There seemed to be more variety (not to mention volume) in the questions from YouTube, but that's really beside the point anyway.

The real change in having YouTube debates is that people are publicly and visibly enganged. That is, seeing other people get engaged leads more people to get involved. It brings the community back to politics.
posted by DU at 12:07 PM on August 21, 2007

Why would you read a newspaper that compares bloggers to monkeys?

Because it's an apt comparison...
posted by SweetJesus at 12:47 PM on August 21, 2007

Mijn god, een krant die kritiek heeft op weblogs?!?
posted by jouke at 1:01 PM on August 21, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh my god. Someone made a funny ad that mocks bloggers. How horrid. Don't they know that blogs are the future? I'm going to get justifiably angry and pout till they apologize. That will show them.
posted by aspo at 1:42 PM on August 21, 2007

Comparing bloggers to monkeys? Outrageous!
posted by homunculus at 2:16 PM on August 21, 2007

I can't comment, as I'm busy telling someone on ask.mefi to dump that motherfucking banana already.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:18 PM on August 21, 2007

Sheer genius.
This should win an award.
I know! I'll start a campaign on my blog!
posted by signal at 3:20 PM on August 21, 2007

I don't see the bad effect of a few hits from mefi. It'd be like worrying about sending a few extra hits to the New York times.
True enough... my "nofollow" comment was mostly a lame attempt at a joke.
posted by exogenous at 3:24 PM on August 21, 2007

They told me "On the internet no one knows you're a monkey." But I think some of 'em are catching on.
posted by jfuller at 4:30 PM on August 21, 2007

Why are most bloggers so goddamn lame?
posted by bradbane at 6:26 PM on August 21, 2007

Bloggers are NOT monkeys, dammit! They're self-loathing, girlfriendless nerds who masturbate to the latest Engadget or Seth Godin piece. Discuss.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:44 PM on August 21, 2007

Very clever marketing.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:46 AM on August 22, 2007