Comments on: Partying With American Apparel — And Recovering From the Hangover

By: Dow Jonas

Dow Jonas — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:17:49 +0000

Hi Plastic and Mr. F! Not sure whether you need there to be *more* girls in stages of orgasm or less, or *more* Aimee and Barnes in *less* attire…or less.

Are we to strive to become more like the Sun? As for the pictures, they were on the walls upstairs. As for the content, I didn’t find anything to click on and buy at the opening or when I went back to take a peek, if they are starting to put out more stuff now that’s interesting.

By: TrannyPet Barmy

TrannyPet Barmy — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:06:28 +0000

avatards

By: Sonja

Sonja — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 13:14:54 +0000

Read the article, decided to check out the place in SL. Nicely landscaped, interesting architecture. The concept is interesting, the meshing of RL fashion in to SL. Though I was very disappointed about how little content there was. Tere was maybe 10 items tops in the entire place. It’s a nice try, but I’d like to see some more meat on this bone.

By: Mr. F

Mr. F — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:03:40 +0000

Where are the orgasm chicks at?

By: One Song

One Song — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 19:33:10 +0000

“Aimee Weber and Barnesworth Anubis appeared in their underwear in public.”
No offence but who is the right mind gives a flying fuck about that. I can see maybe some people caring aobut Philip Linden’s “unusual” change of his avetar’s clothes but come on now? Who is Dow Jonas anyways, well its a rhetorical question. I know Dow Jonas can be used by any of the SLH writers. I guess what I am trying to get at is that who ever is behind Dow Jonas that there is no suprise he has to post one of the wrose stories I ever read on the herald, the quality of this blog is gettting wroser every day that passes. Maybe is time to consider packing it up and calling it a day so we can at least refer to the old skool stuff and have good memories of when the SLH kicked ass.
Here is Brittain we have have the famous taboild called the Sun, well I don’t read it cause its full of opinioned crap from the people that least matter, or have anyone’s ears or respect. One thing is for sure the Sun right now is at least 1,000,000 more attractive to the average reader than this is. Sorry if I offended anyone or many but someone had to say something. Good day.

By: Dow Jonas

Dow Jonas — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:42:15 +0000

I’ll have to think about this some more, but just because one’s stories are advertorials doesn’t mean the writer is totally an “advertar.” And just because someone designs for, or clerks for, a store inworld, doesn’t mean they’ve become a walking sandwhich board as I wrote. There’s some notion of their multiple roles even in the add-on role of a second life in the first place. Unless…there isn’t, and one of the goals of marketing nowadays is to wash out the lines between people’s public and private roles and try to get to them at every level they can. Of course, we find it intrusive and obnoxious. Perhaps the companies are trying to distract from that intrusiveness through the attractiveness of games and the immersiveness of virtual worlds.

BTW, one could argue that Hamlet still retains his advertorial capacity because his blog is linked to Linden’s home page, and he still seems uncritical of most of the SL experience.

By: Dildo Baggins

Dildo Baggins — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:54:02 +0000

Porkofky Beaver is an Avatard!

By: Barnesworth Anubis

Barnesworth Anubis — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 18:12:52 +0000

im always in my underwear :/

By: Emerie Mauriac

Emerie Mauriac — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:04:02 +0000

well,anyway…aside from the arguments on the term “advertar”, the fact that American Apparel has also joined the SL ranks continues to give Secondlife credibility. The company is getting alot of RL press right now as the hip new clothing company, and they felt an addition to SL would benefit them in some way. That says a hell of alot about influence. I for one, though, will continue to search out new and little known designers in SL because of the creativity and uniqueness…and who knows, why can’t we flip reality and do a vice versa? I know its being tried….that’s the stuff that makes me go WOOT!!

By: Tony Walsh

Tony Walsh — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:08:40 +0000

Dow Jonas wrote: “I’m fairly certain that the people dealing in SL with RL companies as hired consultants or artists or programmers would resent being called ‘advertar’”

I can see that at some point I’ll have to post an article describing my definition of an advertar There’s more in my head at this time than I’ve previously written on the term. Your analysis of the term is useful in shaping the definition.

I don’t think a consultant or content creator is necessarily an “advertar.” Like I said yesterday, an advertar is the embodied version of an advertorial. It could be an avatar specifically created by a company to act as a billboard, to engage in word-of-mouth marketing, or astroturfing. It could also be an avatar hired or sponsored by a company for the purposes of advertising a product, service, or brand. Think the virtual-world equivalent of BzzAgents (www.bzzagent.com). Another word for this is “shilling.”

When an avatar’s main function is to increase your appreciation or awareness of a product, service, or brand, they are an advertar. By this (still embryonic) definition, I don’t think Hamlet Au is an advertar, but it’s weakly arguable that Hamlet Linden was an advertar in the same way it’s arguable that being paid to write about Second Life by Linden Lab makes one’s stories advertorials.