AMP'd Fakes Don't Make It

First off, I have to say that the fad of replacing "extreme" with some variation of "amp" is already old-and-busted. You can all stop using it now. Please.

Speaking of old-and-busted, let's talk about fake sites. Like the one you get to from this banner that ran Comedy Central's site this week (among other sites, I'm sure).

Click "approve" and you go to get AMPD. But click "disapprove" and you get this.

This "fake" site BS seems to come up more often than bad ideas are made into TV spots - but does it help to undermine your own message so readily? Obviously, someone wants to make the point of saying "this is not for some people" in an allegedly "young-adult" fashion. But are these sites made with genuine concern for the consumer, or are they just funny to the interactive marketers who spend their days making this stuff?

Definitely the latter. Every button on this fake site just sends you back to AMPD.com. It's a particularly hollow gesture, as it doesn't even do "fake" right. Irritating and overwhelmingly pointless. It's possible to do "fake" and remain conceptually sound, but this isn't even close. It's such a shitty experience for the user, whoever came up with this should be shot.

To AMPD and it's agency: don't pat yourselves on the back, mistakenly considering this post "earned media" -- you haven't earned anything but scorn and distaste, and this is from an "early adopter" in your target audience, as far as you know. Don't take us for idiots.

(I wonder if Coors was officially involved in any way... theirs is the only product featured in the banner ad, and I'm pretty sure it's done without permission or legal clearance. And is that cat 21?)