By now you all know that The New York Times got brandjacked in a major way yesterday. Even the paper of record reported on it. At least staff reporters and ex-editors seemed to take it well. And so far, the printer of all the news that fits hasn't reacted badly. Kudos all around. But there is an untold story here: the brandjacking of the fake advertisers. Read on:
If you're going to have a fake paper that looks real (as yesterday's certainly did), you're going to need fake ads that look real. (We discussed a similar issue when talking about iPhone video games.) So who goes into a historic issue of the The New York Times? McDonald's, HSBC and ExxonMobil, of course. And how would the liberal pranksters that put out the paper treat these mega corporations?
With kid gloves. The feelings of hope and idealism that spread throughout the country with the election of Barack Obama have even touched cynical hearts. The Yes Men (the pranksters) assumed that McD's, HSBC and ExxonMobil would have to live in a new, hopeful, positive and decidedly far more socialist world and that their advertising would be geared toward this. McD's celebrates revolution (below). HSBC celebrates Obama with its iconic "Different Values" campaign. And ExxonMobil talks about "decent ways" to produce energy and celebrates an end to the Iraq war (below). This only adds to the authenticity of The New York Times brandjacking, but what does it do for McD's, HSBC and Exxon?
I think it can only be positive. The takeaway is, "If these über-liberal guys think that these three corporations can become partners with society in the future, maybe I think they can, too."
One last note: The ads presented in the fake paper might be representing the future of newspaper print advertising. One major disadvantage that print publishers currently face is that they sell and serve ads well in advance of the drop date of their products. A lead time for a newspaper might be something like 48 hours or a week, whereas it could be months for a magazine. Newspaper publishers have to improve this. They have to be able to have ads react to the 24-hour news cycle. The ads in this edition of The New York Times were an appropriate response to the news in the paper. You could even argue that they added a colorful and entertaining break from the heavy text that is The New York Times, thereby adding to the content.
