Weirdest DLC Sponsorship Ever: SimCity, Brought To You By Crest 128
MojoKid writes "When it comes to creative advertising potential, it's hard to beat a game like SimCity. In most titles, the idea of in-game advertising makes little sense. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf. But SimCity? SimCity is a game where it makes perfect sense to integrate real-world brands. A city filled with familiar logos and advertising is a city that more closely resembles the real world. That's undoubtedly why EA decided to partner with Crest Toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste. And not for in-game advertising, either. The Nissan Leaf DLC that the company launched a few weeks back at least made sense in some context; EV charging stations are going to be an increasingly common site in cities in the future. But the five new SimCity Attractions that the company added in the Crest partnership boggle the mind."
The Escapist points out that this partnership also extends to The Sims Social, one of EA's Facebook games... which is getting shut down in a few months.
EA Games (Score:5, Funny)
Their new company slogan should be, "And You Thought Square Enix Was Evil. Muwhahahaha. Ha. ..... Haaaaaaaaaaah."
Re:EA Games (Score:5, Funny)
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I still think "challenged by everything" fits them just fine.
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Can't wait for the sharks with freaking lasers DLC!
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They should do some EA-related DLC. I suggest adding a "World's Largest Jackass" tourist attraction--brought to you by EA!
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It's not free, Sherlock. You're buying overpriced toothpaste.
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Poor Linking (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, come on! Is no one doing basic proofreading here?
Re:Poor Linking (Score:5, Funny)
I know Slashdot likes to confuse us with it's hyperlink placement, but I just feel like pointing out that puting the link to TFA on the text "a city that more closely resembles the real world" makes absolutely no sense. That's where a link to a story about the Nissan Leaf DLC should go, at best. The very next sentence, "That's undoubtedly why EA decided to partner with Crest Toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste." is where the hyperlink to go since the hyperlink leads to.... a story about Crest Toothpaste DLC! I mean, come on! Is no one doing basic proofreading here?
No, no they aren't doing basic proof reading and editing. They've learned that we will accept a very low standard of editing and still visit the site. Just like EA has learned they can treat people like crap and those same people will still buy their games.
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"I mean, come on! Is no one doing basic proofreading here?"
"is where the hyperlink to go" .....No, no-one is.
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Since this isn't modded up funny, I'll assume your misspelling of "Murphy" wasn't intentional?
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Actually reading TFA (Score:3)
On top of that, I don't see any sign of "in-game" crest marketing in TFA:
Unless the Giant Garden Gnome has a shiny smile, it's not in-game advertising, it's just cross promotion.
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His, hers, its. They are already possessive. The possessive apostrophe, like "Ray's Hot Dogs", is not necessary.
Did you mean proofreading like editors do? There are no editors. There are copy/paste monkeys who decide that something should appear as a story on one of the various main pages. And people who don't know where apostrophes go.
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Did you mean proofreading like editors do? There are no editors. There are copy/paste monkeys
Now, now, let's not insult monkeys like that.
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It's part of their preemptive legal strategy, guaranteeing an aquital.
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Also, as a foreigner, I don't know anything about :
* Sarah Kerrigan
* Booker DeWitt
* Crest Toothpaste
* DLC sponsorship
I could google all those terms and try to make sense of the story, but the first page is filled with entries related to TFS or TFA. :)
I'd rather complain about it in the comments!
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So how do you know the Victoria's Secret brand? It is only active in Canada, UK and US. But if your from the UK, you'd know what DLC sponsorship is.
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And if you're a gamer you should probably know about, if not played, StarCraft and Bioshock Infinite.
Even if you don't know who Kerrigan or Booker are, you should atleast get by context that they have something to do with video games.
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Do you know what SimCity is?
Re: Poor Linking (Score:3)
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Sarah Kerrigan is from Starcraft, from 15 years ago, she's a terran ghost that becomes Zerg. Booker DeWitt is the protagonist from Bioshock Infinite, which came out three weeks ago and is fantastic.
Sarah Kerrigan is also from Starcraft 2 and plays the main role in its new extension "Heart of the Swarm" that also coincidentally came out about a month or so ago.
I should also add that Starcraft 2 is quite fantastic itself. Just for completeness' sake, you understand. :-)
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Thank goodness for your comment (no seriously) I figured the link just went to some image of Times Square.
From the article (Score:5, Funny)
What, both of them?
Re:From the article (Score:5, Funny)
Well, better than urinary catheter ads...
"Why lose valuable APM struggling to fit a penis you can't even see into the neck of an old mountain dew bottle? Just have your mom insert a Steriflow brand catheter once a week, and never need to take your hands from the controls!"
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At least those adds would be useful. As long as there was online ordering, and free overnight shipping.
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Just have your mom insert a Steriflow brand catheter once a week, and never need to take your hands from the controls!"
Unless your mom is a trained nurse, that's actually a really, really bad idea. Self-catheterization can cause permanent and serious injury if done incorrectly. It would be a lot safer, and just as cost-effective, to use a chemical toilet. These are commonly sold to hunters and for people doing construction work at remote sites where conventional facilities are not available. As well, it doesn't impede wanking at the computer. You know, as long as we're playing the stereotype card. :)
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As well, it doesn't impede wanking at the computer. You know, as long as we're playing the stereotype card. :)
which stereotype? human male?
Re:From the article (Score:5, Funny)
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Unless your mom is a trained nurse, that's actually a really, really bad idea. Self-catheterization can cause permanent and serious injury if done incorrectly.
My father self-catheterized for somewhere around 20 years, and I don't recall him having an issue, other than his complaints about bladder infections (which was a cause that lead to the need for catheters, so I would take that with a grain of salt).
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Most of those guys mastered one-handed PC operation years ago.
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I know, I should not have read it. Rookie mistake.
What, both of them?
No, it's just the one guy. The other guy lives in a country where Crest isn't a brand he could buy.
So this DLC is completely free, I take it? I mean who would buy ads disguised as DLC?
Is their new CEO as confused why EA has so little standing in the public opinion as the old CEO?
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So yes, I'm with you on the The Sims DLC. They could get some street cred back by having a "Mecha-Streisand" desaster. The Katy Perry thing was really odd. I saw the boxes for it at the supermarket and thought to myself htat no sane person would want to have that whig in his life. Clearly I was wrong...
Isn't that the girl who c
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Yawn! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Yawn! (Score:5, Funny)
Wake me up when it is NON-downloadable content and I can play it offline.
Thus Rip Van Winkle slept uninterrupted for decades. He was wakened only briefly by the machine intelligences that now claimed all resources on his planet before being drugged and dragged off this very museum. That, machildren, is how we discovered the last known surviving human.
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I think you spend much too much time on Slashdot. Perhaps you should take up masturbation.
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Are you talking about SimCity or brushing your teeth?
I kid, I kid!
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Wake me up when it is NON-downloadable content and I can play it offline.
Check the major online retail sites selling SimCity. See where it ranks on the sales charts. Prove to me that anyone but the geek gives a damn about "always on line."
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Well, the people who couldn't play for weeks after release just might.
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That didn't last that long. He has a point. We can scream about it till we're blue in the face, but enough people just don't seem to care. If a severe misstep like SimCity could happen and yet still be insanely profitable, then I don't know what else could wake the public at large.
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Well, the preorder sales of the next couple EA games will tell. How did UBI recover from their blunder, anyone knows?
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The geeks are those who are pissed off because the claim that "we do computational intensive stuff on our servers with ABSOLUTELY no network overhead whatsoever" has been proven a lie and that it is indeed always-on DRM.*
The geeks who actually played the game and know what they are talking about complain about city sizes and the new agent-based simulation model being crap.
The brief desa
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Check the major online retail sites selling SimCity. See where it ranks on the sales charts. Prove to me that anyone but the geek gives a damn about "always on line."
Check the Amazon reviews. Regular people are taking notice.
Wut? Obviously you never met a marketer (Score:5, Funny)
In most titles, the idea of in-game advertising makes little sense. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf.
Ok, work with me here. I've got money on the table and I WANT to give it to you. Just keep an open mind. Roll with me here. Ok ok, here we go:
1) The queen of blades is casually strolling through the ruined husk of a terran world she just devistated. Fires and corpses everywhere. Zerglings scootin about everywhere. She looks around with a faint memory of a previous life. Her eyes focus on something. She smirks. The last scene is her walking into the mostly intake Victoria's Secrets store.
2) It's a cold unbearable post-apocalyptic Moscow. Your health slowly comes back as you fight you way through Icouldn'tbebotheredtoreadtheplotsummary. Sure, medkits can heal you to full, but what's better than a meal chock-full of preservatives? Every now and then you can find an old abandoned Micky-Dee's, salvage some old patties, and give your health a minor boost to regeneration.
3) Ok, ok, this last one is easy. Booker DeWitt scounges around some trashcans for food all the time right? All we ask is that a cocacola be in there. Easy as pie. Easier then pie. Pie has that flakey crust. All we want is a simple aluminum can in the trash. Is that too much to ask? There's all sorts of reasons it could be in there. Come ON baby, work with me here!
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The Abathur in HOTS has six hands so he ought to be able to handle even those triple-hooked contraptions.
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Bras not efficient. Lingerie not efficient. Increased structural rigidity instead.
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Abathur has a face vagina and is voiced by Steve Blum.
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"3) Ok, ok, this last one is easy. Booker DeWitt scounges around some trashcans for food all the time right? All we ask is that a cocacola be in there. Easy as pie. Easier then pie. Pie has that flakey crust. All we want is a simple aluminum can in the trash. Is that too much to ask? There's all sorts of reasons it could be in there. Come ON baby, work with me here!"
See, again, all kinds of product placement could be done with Tears.. Dishonored would be much more challenging....
Does anyone remember the Co
Surprised.. (Score:3)
It actually makes sense (Score:2)
Just think about it, it makes sense.
1. You use toothpaste to remove bad stuff from your teeth, like plaque.
2. Plaque also occurs in your arteries where it can block them, becoming a danger to your health.
3. Something blocking the tubes creating a danger to someone's health.
4. Sim City!
You need to get out more, (Score:4, Informative)
I would have thought that Crest would have realised that SimCity is pretty much become a toxic brand at the moment and will taint everything associated with it.
The download of the new SimCity is #3 in PC game sales at Amazon,com The SimCity 4 download edition is #5. The Sims 3 and its - many - add-ons are well placed in the top 50.
Bioshock Infinite, with a Metacritic rating of 95, is #14.
To be fair (Score:1)
When you zoom waaaaay in on Simcity, you see that the polygon count on the sims is just a tat higher then that in Bioshock.
In other words, I fucking hate the "art" direction that Bioshock always had. You may like, I don't and MANY seem to agree with me.
Critics don't make a product, buyers do. And Simcity being a flawed game? Gosh? Really? Well, that is a first. Lots of "can't do that" stuff once you get really stuck in? In a game? Wow! I never experienced that before.
Bioshock another FPS (even if decent,
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I can tell you right now that, as an adult, Bioshock appealed to me more than most other FPSs because it has COLOR for a change, and not just your regular drab, "realistic" environments. Simcity has fresh color of course, but I already knew about its bullshit DRM system beforehand and so didn't buy it.
Actually I didn't buy either - pirated Bioshock Infinite and left Simcity alone entirely. But the point is still made.
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I would have thought that Crest would have realised that SimCity is pretty much become a toxic brand at the moment and will taint everything associated with it.
As far as I understand it, this is in-game advertising. If you're undiscerning enough to put up with EA's shit and are still avidly playing this mediocre excuse for a game, I'd say you're gullible enough to be an advertisers dream. Home-run for Crest.
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Toxic brand? Tainting everything associated with it? Have you actually seen the sales figures? The damn thing is doing ridiculously well despite the always on DRM and the launch mishaps.
I know we all want to feel like SimCity was a massive win for anti-always on DRM, but reality has to sink in eventually. It is far from it. EA is making so much money on SimCity that I'm sure they're planning their next game to function exactly the same.
I paid $80 for this game (Score:5, Funny)
And it just keeps getting stranger by the day. I have nobody to blame but myself.
Sponsorship is all well and good, but... (Score:2, Funny)
...why does my city now look like Toothopolis? And who are these creeps always trying to storm my city walls?
Coca-Cola (Score:2)
No, no, everyone knows that if you wanted to do product placement for Coca-cola in Bioshock Infinite, you simple call Coke Classic "Bucking Bronco" for a month or two, maybe change Mountain Dew to "Possession."
Really though, Bioshock Infinite is a bad example, since it did have plenty of Product Placement in the form of songs. [youtube.com]
Although, knowing the crazy way the music biz works, Levine & co probably had to pay the RIAA for the right to use the songs....
CPG and the Internet (Score:3)
Buying up lots of banner ads isn't the same as buying lots of time during specific shows. No one wants to sit through their commercials, and tracking Return on Investment on their ads is entirely different than what they are used to, and the jury is still out on effectiveness of those ads. Facebook lets anyone come along and build out some very, very specific segments and advertise their niche product. Also, as TV watching drops, CPG HAS TO find a better way to reach people online.
Because CPG still hasn't found something that "clicks" in the online space, and this looks like an experiment for Crest to see if this is an area that makes sense for them to explore long term... they can't reach people on TV because people are playing games, so why not advertise to them in the game?
Like previous attempts, it just doesn't really make sense to the audience. CPG still has some work to do to find a way to reach people, and there is a LOT of money to be made by the person that figures it out.
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Related, though I wonder how many others out there are like myself and my wife when it comes to most CPG.
Regardless of any advertising we're exposed to, I don't think we've bought the same toothpaste twice in a row. Hell, I don't even think we've ever bought the same brand twice in a row. I just bought toothpaste today, I haven't checked to see if it's even the same brand as the almost empty tube in my bathroom, but I doubt very much that it is. I would be shocked if it was the exact same product.
They ha
no diversity ruins in the ads (Score:2)
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I agree with you about this, but then maybe the game could have multiple advertisers, including competitors. Heck, there's even a possibility they could make more money off it. 2 advertisers each paying 60% of what it would have cost for a single advertiser.
I hate 'regular' ads (e.g. TV commercials), but using real brand names in books, movies, and TV shows, as long as it doesn't become VERY blatant (which I actually think it relatively rarely does, and some of the blatant ads are funny, e.g. Colbert Repo
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I've always thought it was weird that books seem to be able to use brand names with no problem
Exactly. I remember when Counter-Strike went from bring a mod to retail release, and they had to change the gun names.
You can't use the names like every other book out there, but you can still use deliberate visual copies? Peculiar, indeed. Hmmm.
The Cavity Creeps are attacking Toothopolis! (Score:1)
Y'know, it used to be that disasters in SimCity were things like fires, floods, and Godzilla attacks. What now? "Emergency! Market share of Crest(tm) toothpaste among Sims has fallen below 50%!" To respond to this disaster, you have to deploy advertising defenses and retailer goodwill to increase brand awareness and Sim purchasing levels.
Next thing you know, in addition to such city services as police, fire, water, and sanitation, Sims will start demanding such things as Coca-Cola(tm) bottling facilitie
Yes...yes, it's all coming back to me. (Score:1)
> Sim City, Brought To You By Crest
I think their marketing department got confused with The Sims, where, near as I can remember (it's been awhile) the chicks were kissing each other all the time.
Not a good sign for gaming (Score:5, Interesting)
Similar things [wikipedia.org] began to happen just before the big video game crash of 1983. I think it was even Crest proof-of-purchase tags that got you the game.
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I'd love to see a HD Cool Spot remake before we all crash into oblivion.
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This happened in the late 80s/early 90s as well, though; two games I remember in particular are Cool Spot [wikipedia.org], which I haven't played in over a decade but remember enjoying well enough as a kid, and M.C. Kids [wikipedia.org] which I also recall as being okay (and, apparently, the Gameboy port became another Cool Spot game in North America and Japan, weird.)
These days it's a lot cheaper to just slap some promo stuff together for in-game advertising and use it in a bunch of different games. Of course, we still get the odd corpor
They've got my vote. (Score:2)
I vote for the Sarah Kerrigan line of Victoria's Secrets.
Victoria's secret (Score:1)
Oh really? (Score:2)
Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf.
But, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance shop the Steam sales.
So then I have a question (Score:2)
If one of the attractions is "The world's largest ball of twine", does that mean that there is only one available for download? What if 2 neighboring cities have the same attraction? Does it keep getting bigger and bigger and the first one to reach the per-item triangle count win?
EA has gone on the record.... (Score:2)
I mean that's really what making games is all about right?
Making shitpiles of money?
Toothopolis (Score:2)
Makes perfect sense if you think about it a little creatively (which EA won’t): A new disaster event in which you have to defend your Simcity of Toothopolis against an onslaught of Cavity Creeps. [youtu.be]
Talk about selling your soul (Score:2)
Refund (Score:1)
I wonder if Crest wanted their money back after EA caused SimCity to be the biggest flop of the year.
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I wonder if Crest wanted their money back after EA caused SimCity to be the biggest flop of the year.
What gives you the impression SimCity was a flow? People still buy it in droves. People still play it and enjoy it. The always-on DRM is over, people got their free consolation game and everything is hunky-dory again. The game had a negative response in closed nerd circles(which is why I don't pick it up...mostly for city size and flawed simulation) but the target demographic of The Sims players got over it.
Money talks, bullshit walks. Money has spoken.
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Fail DLC (Score:2)
Not that strange (Score:2)
The Sims has been doing this for a long time, and really lots of games could use in-game advertising
Any sports game could have sponsors, any game set in modern times could probably have it.
Any game set in the near future could probably use current brands and even a post apocalyptic game could have product placement... Fallen Skies had Choco pies.
Sarah Kerrigan in VC (Score:2)
"Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret" Too bad. An achivement unlock that would display her in VC clothing might make me buy SC3 :)
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Are you talking pre-QoB Kerrigan, QoB Kerrigan, or post-QoB Kerrigan?
Uh what? (Score:2)
"When it comes to creative advertising potential, it's hard to beat a game like SimCity.
When it comes to advertising potential, it's hard to beat a franchise like SimCity. But associating yourself with a game like SimCity which has been so widely panned and which will be forgotten in a couple years due to how very bad it is, with people going back to playing the prequel, is a waste of time and money.
Go home... (Score:1)
Victoria's Secret (Score:1)
Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret
But OMG, if she did...
CD's in cereal (Score:1)
Not that much different from CD's in cereal boxes. I seem to remember some video-game related stuff back in the NES days, and more recently I've seen various consumer products coming with game discs etc.
Heck, Burger King has their own games [wikipedia.org] as well.
As mentioned in the linked article, advergaming is not exactly new, even if in this case the DLC itself isn't about toothpaste.
We make holes in teeth! (Score:1)
cheap jordan shoes jordan shoes wholesale handbag (Score:1)
cheap jordan shoes jordan shoes wholesale handbag (Score:1)
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Yeah, maybe I just don't understand gamers, but I don't get all the fuss either. This is a collection of fun/weird things that you can plant in your city, like a big garden gnome or the "world's biggest ball of twine." They're free; all you gotta do is buy a tube of toothpaste or some floss, which I hope you're doing anyway. This just seems like harmless fun stuff for people who like to put their own stamp on their game worlds. And if it wasn't Crest sponsoring them, it would have been someone else.
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Downloadable content
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downloadable_content [wikipedia.org]
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(troll)
1. Drum up controversy
2. Get page views
3. Profit
There is no ???.
(/troll)