Stealth Dope for Gullible Tokers

Discussion in 'Real Life Stories' started by Superjoint, Apr 7, 2001.

  1. By Damien Cave
    Source: Salon.com

    Marijuana delivered to your house from Amsterdam! Sign up here for fresh green ganja!
    That's the message wafting out from We Deliver, a week-old Web site -- which we first noticed in a post on Plastic.com -- that promises to send marijuana to your door, and guarantees that the authorities will never open your sweet, stinky little package. Why?

    Because the package is labeled as the ashes of a long-lost relative, the site says, and according to the "commenticius" clause in the U.S. Postal Code, "all inspectors are prohibited from the internal examination of any package containing the remains of a human whose life be deemed legally and prematurely ended from without the borders of the United States."

    If only. Unfortunately for lazy stoners everywhere, the We-Deliver.tv domain name is registered to Sputnik7, a New York entertainment portal out to grab some eyeballs by any means necessary.

    The We Deliver Web site is a form of "stealth marketing," says Sommer Hixson, the company's public relations director.

    "We Deliver is Sputnik7's first original, live-action 'webisodic' about a fictional weed delivery service in New York called Green Acres," she says. "The 10-part series will launch on Sputnik7 on Friday, April 20. We-deliver.tv is a campaign to create a pre-launch buzz."

    The campaign is working. More than 2,100 people have signed up for the site's newsletter and proof of service -- a free joint, delivered by April 20. At Plastic.com, no one seemed to notice that "commenticius" is Latin for "imaginary." And none of those who observed that the We Deliver domain name was owned by Sputnik7.com asked the company what was going on, nor did they discover the Sputnik7 essay about the show. Instead, they reveled in the pleasant possibility of weed, easily delivered.

    Hixson calls the wide-scale duping a success. She figures the lack of scrutiny reveals just how badly people want fact to mimic fiction. When it comes to drugs, she says, it's easy to induce "a natural, willing suspension of disbelief." -- Damien Cave

    Source: Salon.com (US Web)
    Author: Damien Cave
    Published: April 4, 2001
    Copyright: 2001 Salon.com
    Website: http://www.salon.com/
    Contact: salon@salonmagazine.com

    We Deliver http://www.we-deliver.tv/

    Sputnik7.com http://www.sputnik7.com/

    Hey Mr. Postman, Did My Weed
    I Mean my Dead Dutch Dad's Ashes, Arrive Yet? http://www.plastic.com/tech/01/04/03/1738216.shtml
     
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