::fibreculture:: From the consult newsletter

Fri Mar 2 09:43:50 EST 2001

The following story is from http://www.consult.com.au/newsletter/  

Regard to all, Di

DEALING WITH PARODY ON THE NET

One of the interesting developments to occur on the Net has been
the emergence of parody sites. For some, these sites are a 
damned nuisance, often constructed by unhappy employees, 
customers or fans. There's no doubt that the intention behind 
some parody sites is to advance dubious material and to throw 
venom at the objects of their dissatisfaction. 

According to Cyveillance, abuse of brands and logos can lead to 
devaluation of a company's identity and loss of its market 
share. Some of the big companies targeted have been Amazon.com, 
Sprint, Microsoft, and British Telecom.

Many parody sites look almost identical to their authentic 
counterparts. Others are far removed in appearance from the 
sites they attempt to ridicule. Often they are directed against 
musicians, politicians and companies. Others are more 
good-natured in the mimicry and mockery they utilise. However, 
when you see sites with the names 'sucks' or 'ihate', you can 
bet that they're offering a pretty heavy satire of something. 
Sucks.com's <http://www.sucks.com> objective is to offer, 'A 
place where all people can get together and vent their 
grievances about Corporate America, American Politics and 
Politicians'. One resource, the Boodle Box, provides software 
button parodies (e.g. Microsoft Offus), fake awards, and fake 
campaigns <http://www.jwp.bc.ca/saulm/html/award.htm>. 

It has been shown that these sites can be very effective in 
skewering their target, according to a study of political parody
sites conducted by University of Washington professor Barbara 
Warnick. She's quoted as saying, 'People derive real information
from these sites', which often fling visual and audio barbs at 
their victims. Opponents of the GWBush.com site appealed to the 
US Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to have it shut down, but 
the FEC claimed the issue was 'too unimportant to warrant its 
attention'. It seems dubious that sites such as 
http://www.allgore.com/ and http://www.gwbush.com/ had any real 
impact on the outcome of the recent US presidential election, 
with supporters of the candidates unlikely to be swayed by the 
content offered on sites ridiculing their hero.  

Recently there has been a spate of legal challenges to a range 
of parody sites, testing the US legal system's willingness to 
uphold the First Amendment protection for social satire. An 
assessment of completed ICANN cases indicates that protest and 
parody sites using names similar to high profile trademark names
are increasingly losing legal challenges. With increasing 
intervention from the courts and regulators, the heyday of 
parody sites, especially those taking aim at corporate America, 
maybe on the wane.

Some examples of parody sites:
Political:
Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Governor of Minnesota:
http://www.kingjessesjesters.com
Live Cam in The Oval Office: http://www.morecrap.com/ovl.htm
Humorous:
Society Against White Backgrounds:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2439/protest.htm
Bob's Fridge Door: http://bobsfridge.com/index.html
Funnyspoofs: http://www.funnyspoofs.com/
My Boss Sucks: http://www.mybosssucks.com
Music:
MetallicaSucks.com: http://www.metallicasucks.com
Company and sector:
Fuckedcompany.com: http://www.fuckedcompany.com/
AllStateInsuranceSucks.com: http://www.allstateinsurancesucks.com
I Hate Starbucks.com: http://www.ihatestarbucks.com
I Hate Bill Gates: http://www.ihatebillgates.com

More reading:
Companies fight back against Internet attacks:
http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/Printer_Friendly_Version/0,1212,NAV47_STO52667-,00.html

Parody sites sucked into cybersquatting squabbles:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2604599.html

Political parody sites pack a serious information punch:
http://www.washington.edu/newsroom/news/2000archive/09-00archive/k091100.html

GW Bush parody Web site escapes FEC axe:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/000418-000019.html

                                                  [IRIS INSIGHT]