“Spears: Fake Passes Being Sold - ClickOnDetroit.com” plus 4 more

Spears: Fake Passes Being Sold - ClickOnDetroit.com
Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears show off hot bods on Miami holiday - New Kerala
G-20 spurs attention-seeking guerrilla marketing - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TV Firm Admits Jacko Hoax Video 'Experiment' - Ananova
German TV show admits Jackson video hoax - ninemsn

Spears: Fake Passes Being Sold - ClickOnDetroit.com

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 04:50 PM PDT

Clunkers Aid Ford, Toyota Sales; GM, Chrysler Fall

Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears show off hot bods on Miami holiday - New Kerala

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 08:43 AM PDT

Washington, Aug 1 : Britney and her sister Jamie Lynn Spears showed off their hot bikini bodies on Monday, while on Holiday in Miami.

The siblings, along with their kids and parents, had spent about an hour at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel pool Monday afternoon.

'They both looked to be in pretty good shape,' Us magazine quoted a witness as saying.

This is the first time that 18-year-old Jamie Lynn, who welcomed daughter Maddie in June 2008, has shown off her post-baby body.

'She had on a white, spangly top. A very little bikini!' said the witness.

The family, including Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden James, 2, 'sat around the pool for about 20 minutes. Then Britney worked on her tan while Jamie Lynn took her daughter and her mom to a cabana on the beach.'

'They seemed pretty relaxed. Everyone was smiling,' said the witness.

--ANI

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G-20 spurs attention-seeking guerrilla marketing - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 09:44 PM PDT

Need to get a message to the world leaders attending the Group of Twenty summit? Elliance, an Internet marketing agency on the North Shore, would like to help.

The agency has come up with an idea to use its strategically placed offices -- across the Allegheny River from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center -- to use "2,400-watt beacons of democratic hope" to flash messages in Morse code toward the G-20 meeting place. If insurance concerns can be worked out, the project could launch quickly.

It isn't strictly marketing. As a joint effort with artist Osman Khan, the agency sees it as more of a grass-roots public art experiment. But if it could help boost Elliance's reputation as a creative place where the staff thinks a bit differently, well, that's OK with CEO Abu Noaman.

Outside of the many official and semiofficial efforts under way to market Pittsburgh around the G-20 summit this month, businesses are coming up with ideas that might be called guerrilla marketing or at least quirky attempts to borrow a little shine from the media lights blasting down on the Steel City.

A search of video site YouTube.com for the terms "G-20" and "Pittsburgh" brings up plenty of protest clips. But it also finds other offbeat pieces, including the short scouting video done by the Elliance staff as they held a camera in a car and drove around to make sure their windows could be seen from the convention center.

Brady Communications recently posted a 3-minute, 20-second video showing scenes around the city and staff members talking about what they love here. "Pittsburgh is a hidden jewel," says John Brady, president of the Downtown marketing firm, in his cameo. Other staffers talk about being able to get fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets, checking out galleries around town or learning to love Steelers football and the post-Super Bowl parades.

It could almost be an official VisitPittsburgh film, but it's not.

Lia Osle, Brady director of brand strategy, said absolutely the goal of the video was to pick up exposure. Or, as she described the thinking that got things going about a month ago, "Maybe we can grab a little bit of the spotlight that's focusing on Pittsburgh right now."

The agency, whose video had more than 200 views by early this week, knows how to use tags and keywords to pop to the top of search results. But, she said, such Internet markers have to be used properly. Search engines eventually figure out if a video of Britney Spears or a dancing wedding party has a G-20 tag but no connection at all to the event.

"That's what we didn't want to do," she said.

Sara Parks, co-owner of the fair trade and green lifestyle Equita store in Lawrenceville, was surprised to learn that a G-20 tag had been put on a YouTube video made by local filmmaker to promote the flea market that she and her partners began promoting this summer.

But, hey, why not, she said.

She wouldn't even mind if some people who come to town for the G-20 -- if not the leaders, then maybe some of the police brought in to help or other visitors -- stop in to check out the Lawrenceville Little Flea gathering at Butler and 36th streets that Saturday. "It's a great diversion and a way to see the neighborhood," assured Ms. Parks.

In an old-fashioned way, the market picks up on the economic and sustainable themes that helped bring the summit to Pittsburgh. Reusing items reduces the need for new things and cuts carbon footprints. In a tough economy, a flea market can help people buy things cheaply while others make a little money, Ms. Parks said.

Tim Fitzgerald, president of Jacobsen dealer Krigger & Co. in West Deer, also was unaware that the G-20 tag was one of several on a video showing a new Eclipse 22 prototype all-electric mower demonstration at Nevillewood a few weeks ago. "I'm not sure what the tie-in would be," he mused, noting that his son loaded the video before heading back to college.

But the $40,000 piece of equipment used for places such as golf courses is greener and cleaner than more traditional models, he said.

While he didn't exactly have a message for the G-20 leaders, he did have one for officials in Washington, D.C. They need to stop vilifying golfers, he said.

It seems companies don't want their CEOs seen golfing these days because it might look like they are goofing off. In addition, Mr. Fitzgerald said, the stimulus package bans municipalities from spending the funds on their golf courses. "There are a lot of people employed in this business," he noted.

Whatever messages the masses want to convey to the G-20 participants, the people at Elliance hope to be able to deliver. "I always feel it's important to hear the grass-roots voices," said Mr. Noaman.

After they came up with the idea a few weeks ago of using their windows in the Confluence building, they asked the landlord for permission. The project is benign, but they don't want to get anyone in trouble. Insurance concerns are being reviewed.

If everything works out, people would be able to send messages to a Twitter account, heyg20. Some would be translated into Morse code. Six windows with six different colors would each flash a different message. "It'll look like a light show," Mr. Noaman said.

Every so often, the lights could be synchronized to deliver a single message from Mr. Khan and Elliance.

The heyg20 organizers don't want some other group to try to hijack their windows for an inappropriate message, so not everything sent in would make the light show. But all items sent in would be available to those who want to check out the Twitter account.

That might be useful, too, for the G-20 leaders. They may not all be fluent in Morse code.

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TV Firm Admits Jacko Hoax Video 'Experiment' - Ananova

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 09:22 PM PDT

A hoax video which claimed to show Michael Jackson after his death was an experiment on online conspiracy theories, the broadcaster which created it has said.

German TV company RTL posted the clip on YouTube for one day and it received 880,000 hits. It has since removed the video from the website.

"We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the internet with hoax videos," RTL spokeswoman Heike Schultz said.

"Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead - and the response was breathtaking."

The video, posted under an "anonymous source", showed a coroner's van entering what appeared to be an underground car park.

A man, who had the same build and hair as Jackson, was escorted from the vehicle and through a doorway.

Ms Schultz said: "Unfortunately, many people believed it was true.

"Even though we tried to create the video in a way that every normal user can see right away that it is a fake."

She said the video was shot near Cologne in Germany and "definitely not in the US".

Some Jackson fans have complained to RTL for using their idol's death as part of an experiment.

Ms Schultz said in response: "We didn't want to dishonour Michael Jackson, but we needed a strong name to get this experiment going.

"Had we used Britney Spears, then the fans of Britney would have complained."

Meanwhile, Jackson's death certificate has been amended to reflect his cause of death as a homicide, specifying "injection by another" as the fatal injury.

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German TV show admits Jackson video hoax - ninemsn

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 09:22 PM PDT

A hoax video purportedly showing Michael Jackson emerging from a coroner's van was an experiment aimed at showing how quickly misinformation and conspiracy theories can race across the internet, German broadcaster RTL said.

The video was posted by RTL on YouTube for a single day a week ago and received 880,000 hits. The broadcaster has since removed the video from YouTube, but it has been picked up by other web sites around the world.

"We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the internet with hoax videos," spokesman Heike Schultz of Cologne-based RTL told The Associated Press. "Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead - and the response was breathtaking."

Jackson died June 25 in Los Angeles.

The video - posted under an "anonymous source" - shows a coroner's van entering what seems like a parking garage and the King of Pop getting out of the back with another person. The lighting is bad, the sound muffled and the footage appears amateurish.

"Unfortunately, many people believed it was true," Schultz said. "Even though we tried to create the video in a way that every normal user can see right away that it is a fake."

He said the video was shot near Cologne - "definitely not in the US" The van in the video had the word "CORONER" printed in English, suggesting it had been recorded in America.

RTL admitted to the hoax in an Aug 26 report on its daily news show Explosiv.

Hoaxes and rumours commonly spread like wildfire on the internet. Videos of flying saucers and impossible stunts routinely are among the most-viewed on video-sharing sites, though purported evidence of the deceased being alive is less common than false rumours of someone's death.

The rise of Twitter and its real-time microblogging has quickened the pace. American actor Patrick Swayze, who is battling pancreatic cancer, had to declare that he is still alive this year after thousands of Twitter users spread news that he was dead. Actor Jeff Goldblum had to do the same.

The RTL spokesman said some Jackson fans were upset by the German broadcaster's actions.

"We didn't want to dishonour Michael Jackson, but we needed a strong name to get this experiment going," Schultz said. "Had we used Britney Spears, then the fans of Britney would have complained."