"Please Natasha I am sorry the sculpture offended you."

April 19, 2018 6:28 PM

Is This An Ad? is an occasional column by Buzzfeed's Katie Notopoulos (previously) "in which we take a celebrity’s social media post about a brand or product and find out if they’re getting paid to post about it or what." Her latest latest one asks "Is This Creepy Sculpture An Ad For Soylent?"
posted by Johnny Wallflower (26 comments total)

I want a refund on this game of Roy. This timeline is stupid.

Fifty bucks on this being paid fake viral Buzzfeed agitpromo.
posted by loquacious at 6:42 PM on April 19, 2018 [8 favorites]

Pepsi Green is made of people!!
posted by ejs at 6:43 PM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Related subreddit: /r/HailCorporate
posted by glonous keming at 6:44 PM on April 19, 2018 [5 favorites]

I want this type of research job.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:51 PM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

Man, this stuff is so annoying. Makes me want to step away from the computer and head outside for some fresh air and the satisfaction of a dip of Copenhagen.

WARNING: This product can cause mouth cancer.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:09 PM on April 19, 2018 [10 favorites]

Metarelated subreddits: /r/HailCorporateAlt or /r/SaluteCorporate

The mod of Hail Corporate shills for the opposite of whatever fork the mods of /r/bitcoin have decided to take and baned people in /r/bitcoin people from talking about other options. According to the mods of /r/hailcorporate, it's ostensibly a response to the ban of discussion in /r/bitcoin, but a lot of users see that as a flimsy rationale (including myself.).

I really don't feel like going to find the comment from the mod about how Hail Corporate is a strictly capitalist sub and is purposefully not associated with places like /r/socialism or /r/latestagecapitalism.

It's ads all the fucking way down in this fucking air conditioned capitalist nightmare.

I have literally not commented on it on reddit because the mod is basically saying anyone who is calling them out on it is just a /r/bitcoin shill, and that there can't be any legitimate complaints. Why even fucking bother. I don't even know the fucking names of either side of this garbage. I just know it has no place in a forum purportedly about pointing out people praising corporations in general.
posted by deadaluspark at 7:12 PM on April 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

For once, we have broken that law that says, "If a headline has a question in it, the answer is typically 'no'."
posted by Quackles at 7:47 PM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

My assumption if anyone includes the @ or # of a brand and they aren't bitching about it, they're getting paid.
posted by madajb at 7:55 PM on April 19, 2018 [5 favorites]

I would have thought that the prevalence of reality TV and fake viral marketing would quickly make people better at spotting what's real and what's not, but instead it really seems to be making a lot of people worse at it.

Interesting. Bad interesting.
posted by bongo_x at 8:06 PM on April 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

I instantly recognized it as Alan Wagner's work from the fonts and the colors. He's hilarious. Like Obvious Plant but less obvious.
posted by miyabo at 8:36 PM on April 19, 2018

Is Is This An Ad An Ad?
posted by taskmaster at 8:44 PM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

All three are kind of making fun of Soylent and making it seem weird and gross and something only a creepy weirdo drinks. This is definitely not the brand image Soylent wants to project, right?

But on the other hand, remember they named their product Soylent.
posted by RobotHero at 8:57 PM on April 19, 2018 [18 favorites]

Also, in addition to naming their product Soylent, they also made a coffee-flavored variety and called it “Coffiest”. Which is the name of a drink in Pohl and Kornbluth’s depressingly prophetic Merchants of Venus which is notable for containing “customer loyalty enhancing alkaloids”. I give them points for obliquely admitting how evil they are with that.
posted by egypturnash at 11:25 PM on April 19, 2018 [7 favorites]

Is This Is This An Ad An Ad?
posted by dazed_one at 4:00 AM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Calvin Klein did not respond to these questions or a request for comment, even though my email tracker showed they opened the email 19 times. If they do respond, we will update.

From the Khloe Kardashian baby one, hah.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:40 AM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Betteridge's law of headlines: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

Lanark's law of social media: "Any media post that includes a trade name or a trademark is an advert."
posted by Lanark at 6:19 AM on April 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

I am a big fan of Katie Notopoulos.
posted by josher71 at 6:40 AM on April 20, 2018

All three are kind of making fun of Soylent and making it seem weird and gross and something only a creepy weirdo drinks. This is definitely not the brand image Soylent wants to project, right?

I mean, "creepy weirdos" have to make up at least 90% of Soylent's target market.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:46 AM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Previously.
posted by explosion at 6:49 AM on April 20, 2018

I would have thought that the prevalence of reality TV and fake viral marketing would quickly make people better at spotting what's real and what's not, but instead it really seems to be making a lot of people worse at it.

...are you familiar with American politics?
posted by AFABulous at 9:27 AM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

That was the underlying message, yes.
posted by bongo_x at 10:06 AM on April 20, 2018

Armed with this new info from the dog owner, I asked both Soylent and Wagner if they wanted to comment. They still both declined.

Look, I get it. It was a funny, weird stunt meant to be cool and hip. It’s funny because it’s sort of mysterious, and it’s unclear if it’s an ad or not. That’s the whole joke.

I guess it is my age but it just seems stupid like teenage narcissism stupid, not malicious but vapid. Sort of like it comes from a world where clever is a bunch of 11 year olds snickering when someone says Dick. Please refund the last 3 minutes of my life.
posted by Pembquist at 10:10 AM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Good god! I just read what I wrote. I think I am going to stop with the interweb for a while, I am turning into some kind of sour crank,("turning into" might be a little behind the curve but whatever)

Godspeed Metafilter.
posted by Pembquist at 10:21 AM on April 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

Is Is This An Ad An Ad?
posted by taskmaster at 8:44 PM on April 19

Is This Is This An Ad An Ad?
posted by dazed_one at 4:00 AM on April 20

Are These Metafilter Comments Ads?

*accepts envelope of cash*

Because This One Is.
posted by AlSweigart at 11:44 AM on April 20, 2018

I find the international aspect of FTC crackdowns on sponsored content interesting. This investigation is focused on the interaction between the FTC and American celebrities, but of course much of their audience (and by extension the advertisers' audience) is elsewhere. Have other countries established standards for this, and how do these international businesses comply?
posted by mosst at 12:57 PM on April 20, 2018

Yeah, the F in FTC stands for Federal, so it raises the question is there any international body that addresses this sort of thing? Now that the internet makes it possible for a random schmoe in one country to become famous in another.
posted by RobotHero at 6:03 PM on April 22, 2018