Apple, Beijing, and Comcast—The ABCs of OBD
A few recent examples of OBD (thanks to the readers who sent these in):
Fake buzz for the iPhone in Poland
Sample quote: “We couldn’t have expected the same kind of fever as in the United States given that Apple’s products aren’t that well-known in Poland…”
Diagnosis: Sheesh. Another case of faking popularity to rebrand reality, much like flogs and WOMM.
Image is everything in Beijing
Sample quote: “The ruse even extended to getting the weather forecast right so as to simulate the same smog as on the night, and adding camera shake to simulate filming from a helicopter.”
Diagnosis: China takes the gold. Primetime lip-syncing, CGI fireworks, and police officers scolded for not smiling enough—and that’s just the Olympics. Socially, politically, you name it: China is the posterboy of OBD.
Sample quote: “Comcast admits to paying non-Comcast employees to hold spaces!”
Diagnosis: Despicable. Branders love saying, “The brand is in the mind of the consumer”—that is, unless consumers speak their minds against the brand. Then it’s time to pervert the public discourse by paying for mindless, mercinary “consumers.”
