Press Releases On Random Google Connections

from the ugh dept

In the late 90s, companies would put out press releases mentioning any bigger named company, just to try to get it picked up by a wider audience. One of the favorites, of course, was Amazon.com. There was the famous case where Zap.com, a fish oil company turned internet portal, announced that it was working with Amazon.com after it (like thousands of other sites) got approved to be in Amazon's affiliate program. It appears the same sort of thing is now happening with Google (BugMeNot required), as companies are coming up with increasingly bizarre reasons to put out press releases mentioning Google. There's even one company that put out a press release highlighting that their PageRank rose to 7 from 5. While it may seem amazing that the PR folks who put out these releases think that people are so dumb that they can't see through this sort of blatant attempt to jump on a bandwagon, it's worth remembering that Zap.com's stock jumped 20% the day they announced their "deal" with Amazon. It seems people really are that gullible -- so if you plan on selling to gullible, easily influenceable people, then perhaps this tactic is for you.

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