Identity Hijacking for Humor - How Far Is Too Far?
Stealing someone’s identity to defraud someone is a serious criminal offence.
Borrowing someone’s identity to take the piss out of them, as the Brits would say, is a time-tested satirical technique.
The skewerer gets props for cleverness. But the one who is skewered often also gains visibility, possibly a wider audience, and kudos for having a sense of humor (if they don’t go ballastic and launch a legal nuclear strike).
Author, blogger and long-time tech industry marketing communications savant Shel Israel has been mercilessly mocked by video blogger Loren Feldman. Israel is doing a series of video reports about social media measurement, and Feldman is going all Daily Show on him.
Shel seems like a great guy, but his mannerisms make him sound a bit pompous sometimes. It was only a matter of time before someone took his schtick and had some fun with it.
The fact that Feldman has a nasty streak that often gets personal detracts from his appeal.
Feldman’s parody site even includes a link to Naked Conversations, but I bet any Amazon Associates cash goes to the skewerer.
And speaking of parodies, Geoff Livingston is spending today mocking Joseph Jaffe for jamming out on the Blogger Social event (Jaffe says he was sick), at which Jaffe’s Crayon teamed up with Oovoo to contribute $30,000 to the Frozen Pea Fund.
(I’d rather be lampooned for the way I contribute to charity than for just about anything else!)
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POSTED IN: Buzz, Creativity, Crisis Communications, Ethics, Humor, Measurement, Reputation Management, Social Media
5 opinions for Identity Hijacking for Humor - How Far Is Too Far?
Geoff Livingston
Apr 6, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Joe is being a good sport about it, too. I think he knows as well as you do, that this benefits him if he embraces it. Hopefully it will become a meme and continue to benefit the Frozen Pea Fund.
This Blogodrama Is Ridiculous! » The Buzz Bin
Apr 7, 2008 at 12:17 pm
[…] could be mocked? So now he’s Elliot Spitzer? And even if Shel did purchase his own URL,what would have stopped Loren from airing out his angst in a different form? There’s more to this than just a bad video or […]
Joseph Jaffe
Apr 7, 2008 at 7:59 pm
“Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.” - Andy Warhol
And I WAS (and still am) sick, although I’ll be honest, Diva’ing out on a bunch of geeks sure makes for better press
:)
PS Livingston for President. The fact he bid $500 for charity for my name tag makes him crazy, a saint, or both
Eric Eggertson
Apr 9, 2008 at 9:41 pm
No one’s saying you weren’t sick, Mr. Jaffe. We’re just questioning which one of you is the real Joseph Jaffe…
Joseph Jaffe
Apr 10, 2008 at 2:36 am
I ask myself that question every day
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