Battleangel

Accusations are flying over claims that Nvidia was using massive guerilla marketing. And from the looks of it, Nvidia aren’t alone either.

Boing Boing - Nvidia stands accused of hiring online actors to create dozens of personae in online forums, where they won gamers’ trust by talking about subjects unrelated to Nvidia’s products, and then splurged in an orgy of sock-puppet boosterism of Nvidia’s stuff.

Consumerist has notes on its ongoing investigation into the “Manchurian Fans” scandal. A former employee of AEG, a firm that specializes in tricking people into thinking that its employees are regular users who talk up products because they plain like them, has been hired by Nvidia, but he won’t answer Consumerist’s questions. Nvidia’s PR person won’t return their calls either.

One will soon have to filter the content one takes in very carefully. Neither the private sphere in terms of blogs or forums nor the more traditional forms of media have been able to stand up to the onslaught. Just look at the case of the Pentagon running propaganda pieces to control public opinion, covertly. This phenomenon is indeed quite serious, and more so than it first appears. And it of course builds on a long history of manipulation and conditioning. Still, this manages to set the ethic standard a little lower. Secrecy and insincerity seem to be the words to define our present time.

And also, yet another job you never knew existed. Seems everyone is going to be employed in marketing soon. It’s almost like a really twisted Dilbert strip come alive.