I'd totally do that.
What would you do if Pepsi-Cola offered to transport you back in time to 1975 to seed Pepsi logos into the early internet?
I would remind them that such brazenly aggressive of an advert campaign would backfire spectacularly if attempted in that era. The early internet's population demographic was mostly extreme tech nerds and academics; not 15 year olds and soccer moms, like now. The consensus was that allowing commercial content on the internet would result in a dysyopic landscape of shameless shilling and rent seeking. Attempting such an early cashgrab would likely result in a future where pepsico had LESS marketing power, not more, due to an almost certain backlash by the internet community at large, and perhaps aggressive legislation being passed before a strong lobby could be created and operated.
I would suggest a low-key approach, favoring subtle brand awareness coupled with 'wants', as a more viable alternative. (EG, some form of academic tie-in, with a competition of academic nature, with a tuition based payout, and very subtle brand awareness. Usenet and pals would take care of the advertising for free, and be more effective.)
But then I would remember that I have a soul, and would instead bring evidence of the advert and rentseeking dystopia the internet will become, and just seed usenet with that, along with just enough period appropriate geopolitical historic 'dirt' to make policy makers stand up and take notice.
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Topic: dumb hypotheticals thread (Read 5865 times)