12 December 2006
Ferry

Sony pays PR firm to lie about wanting a PSP for Christmas (terrible rapsong video included)

I hate that it’s popular in the media nowadays to bash the black sheep PS3. It’s true that Sony made almost every mistake they could make in the release of the PS3, but I don’t think any one game company deserved to be put down by the press in the way the PS3 did, especially since they are trying to earn their keep by providing you with entertainment like they did with the PS2. That being said…

… Sony just sank to the lowest of the lowest level. Sony hired marketing company Zipatoni to set up a viral marketing scheme, that company did this by registering the domain alliwantforxmasisapsp.com [link to the whois registration, not the real website]. This website is set up as a PSP fansite where the marketers with Sony’s approval pretend to be kids that want a PSP and posted a rap video titled “All I Want for X-mas Is A PSP” to go along with the following LIES:

“here’s the deal::: i (charlie) have a psp. my friend jeremy does not. but he wants one this year for xmas.

so we started clowning with sum not-so-subtle hints to j’s parents that a psp would be teh perfect gift. we created this site to spread the luv to those like j who want a psp!

consider us your own personal psp hype machine, here to help you wage a holiday assault on ur parents, girl, granny, boss — whoever — so they know what you really want.

we’ll let you know how it works for us. pls return the favor. more to come, c&j.”

The lies don’t end there, fake comments have been posted at Kotaku only linking to the Youtube video to increase its pageviews: “Good call on DJ max. Regarding music: if changes were to be made for westerners, this guy should be considered: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJxIWUKM0hQ - LOLZ”

At Youtube the lies continue: “Our boy Cousin Pete — yes, the same Cousin Pete featured on the $249 bill — just finished his video! Check his fresh (and mad clowny) rhymes and old-school beats. True LOL stuff!” [TRUE = FAKE!]

Don’t forget to ask greg.meyerkord@zipatoni.com if the money he earned by lying for Sony was enough to get him that PSP for Xmas, blergh disgusting.

Updated: Youtube user/gamer babylonian made a video response to Sony to tell them gamers are not that stupid:


Via Somethingawful, from Joystiq

12 December 2006 09:17
Commcd

Wow a company pays someone to make an advertising campaign that contains lies now i’ve seen everything.

12 December 2006 09:24
Amazed

Also it turns out that Coke does not actually add life.

12 December 2006 09:26
Ken

What? Sony? Lie? I mean, it’s not like they’ve, say, had fake reviewers review their movies or anything.

Oh, wait.

I mean, DAMN, folks. They just never learn. Sony’s a weird company: it’s the OJ of consumer electronics — you want to like them, but they keep DOING STUPID STUFF. Go back. Waaay back. Beta. Minidisc. Digital audio players that didn’t play MP3. Memory stick — not SD, xD, or CF, like everyone else. Blu Ray. Blah, blah, blah. Sony keeps thinking that, because they’re SONY (dammit), they can dictate to the consumer. And the consumer keeps shoving it back in their face. Sony, if anything, continues to be in business despite business practices, not because of them. They make good product, but they think consumers are slavering idiots.

Pathetic.

12 December 2006 09:28
Commcd

I just can’t figure out why anyone would consider this a good way to advertise. They should just have had someone playing Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. The DS adverts have people playing one of the hundreds of great games they have and they are very affective.

12 December 2006 11:05
Reeteshinator

I dont think U saw the XBX Back Video. thats Is the same thing that M$ did, completely Having some singer to bash the PS3 and Wii .

12 December 2006 11:31
mozzy

@Commcd — but wouldn’t that require the PSP to actually have good games?

12 December 2006 11:39
Marc

I have a PSP and 99.99% of the games are terrible, I don’t think any sort of advertising will save the PSP now.

@5
I am amazed that you have managed to bring M$ into this it has absolutely nothing to do with them…..

12 December 2006 11:52
Reeteshinator

Well, I felt the same way when I saw that song, about how that girl whom I’ve never heard of wanted to get her XBX back(from god only knows where) and she only wanted to get it back because the other consoles are bad

that seemed like a marketing stunt to me.

12 December 2006 12:04
Reeteshinator

oh BTW…. Liar Liar is A Great movie!

12 December 2006 12:52
eX-Sony consumer

So now that I watched the video, did I just get rootkited by Sony again?