Porn stars sell Palm Pilots. Ted Kaczynski plugs Apple Computer. Bulimic models sell Calvin Klein perfume. OK, that's not new, but these models are actually hunched over the bowl. Nope, these are all spoofs of well-known ads that have been slapped together and tossed up on the Web, often to the considerable consternation of the advertiser.
Corporate reactions vary.
Apple Computer, for example, shrugged off a spoof of one of its most famous campaigns. The spoof artists saved the video in QuickTime, and Web surfers promptly emailed copies of it all over the world. Other companies haven't been so forgiving of the instant online ad satire that pops up almost as soon as they launch a new campaign. Kottke took down the ads. News outlets got ahold of the story and portrayed Kottke as David with a Web browser.