The Perpetually Malcontented Trolls of TripAdvisor

You can't believe everything you read, especially on TripAdvisor. If it's not some asshole looking for a free meal or a comped night, it's the proprietor himself posting fake five-star reviews. You want a glowing review of that hotel you're thinking of booking? You can find it! You want a picture of mold in the shower? You can find that, too!

A London brand reputation management firm is hoping to sue TripAdvisor on behalf of its clients. The founder of the firm, a master of the obvious, said, "The world of the Internet and particularly social media has pretty much outstripped ethical guidelines, and some legal ones as well.”

Everyone's a reviewer. Everyone's a critic. Your best bet is the recommendation of someone you know and trust; someone who will give you the straight story. "It was awesome. I mean, sure, the little bottles of shampoo were kinda harsh on my hair, but other than that, good bed, nice view, decent staff. It's a hotel, man, what do you want?"

Or you can trust the whining freaks who can't wait to get home and pretend to be authorities on all things hospitality and dining.

Your MOM is Redundant! (Number 2)

OK, so I surprised myself and actually continued a proposed series of homemade comics.

(Make the image bigger by clicking. Duh.)

A Little Late There, Priceline

Back in April, Angela at AdRants posted about the new campaign within a campaign for Priceline. William Shatner, in his recurring role as the Priceline Negotiator, gets himself a falcon sidekick called the Falcon of Truth. Shatty also sports an eyepatch, because as The Shat explains, "Tiniest fib, goes right for the eye." He proceeds to get a rental car from a desk clerk, who doesn't get her eye gouged out, which we assume means she actually did get His Shatness the best deal on a rental car.

So that was April. Priceline also offered the first 100 people who signed up a free Falcon of Truth t-shirt. Since I can never have enough free grungy yardwear with weird imagery on it, and since I'm a steadfast believer in the Power of The Shat to sell stuff, I signed up.

This morning (two and a half months later) a FedEx truck rolls up to my door delivering my Falcon of Truth t-shirt. I had totally forgotten the thing - not to mention the campaign. Two and half months is a lifetime when you're trying to create buzz for something.

So you launch this campaign in mid April, run about one spot a couple of times, throw up a companion website complete with the obligatory wallpapers, screensavers, giant downloadable images of Fat Shat in all his rotund and ridiculous glory, MP3s and even ringtones, and then you abandon it? (Yes, falcon ringtones.)

But wait, there's more! They even gave us B-roll footage and "the making of the Negotiator spots" behind the scenes action!

And yet a search for "Falcon of Truth" at Google video still yields nothing. (It's up at lesser video sites.)

You had a good thing going here and then you let it die, Priceline. A few people tried to get the ball rolling, but it never took off like it should have. The notion of a falcon who detects lies and gouges out eyes has great comic possibilities. I see David Spade as a smarmy ticket agent rolling on the floor in agony after the Falcon has at him. As it is, if I ever wear this t-shirt, I'll have to go into a long explanation of just who the Falcon of Truth was.

"Way back in April of '07, Priceline tried to do a viral thing that never took off. See, Falcon of Truth was the sidekick to the Priceline Negotiator and if the falcon detected a lie, he'd....nevermind. It's just a t-shirt."