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May 15, 2008
Filed Under (News) by Mad Morten
As we reported way back in April, the so-called “hack” of Canadian music station MuchMusic by a mask wearing dork is nothing but a bad ad campaign for a new contest the station is running. On their new Phind the Phreak site, they proudly proclaim:
Right. Because using words like “hip” and “Interweb” with a capital i show that you are at the very leading edge of modern youth culture. Or at least it did back in 1972. This must be the most ill conceived advertising campaign in modern history. For one, it backfired almost immediately as our posting about how it had to be an ad campaign got more views and a higher Google ranking than the actual phreak615 blog. And from all the flack people have been shooting out in comments on this blog and many others, it’s pretty clear that the viewing public find the campaign both annoying, insulting and stupid at the same time. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone actually enters the contest. Considering that the Dabbler team and our many commenters pretty much solved the riddle before it was even announced, I think it would only be fair that the prizes are handed to us. But that would be admitting that their half-assed scheme really was a bad idea and that they have lost touch with their own target audience. Sorry MuchMusic. I am most unimpressed. Next time, how about hiring someone who actually knows and understands modern youth culture, not to mention the Interweb? 11 Responses to “It’s Official: Phreak615’s MuchMusic Hack is Nothing But a Stupid Contest”Leave a Reply |
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May 15th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Folks, the game is up. The whole Phreak615 saga is a big sham. Turns out it’s a contest. And now, allow me to blow the whole contest for you, being the spoiler that I am. My brother says it’s a scam, and he’s absolutely right.
Let’s break it down, using the “lineup” at http://www.muchmusic.com/phreak.
Phreak615 is not black (obviously).
Phreak615 does not have facial hair (at least as far as we know).
Phreak615 is most definitely not a woman (see above).
Phreak615 is not fat-looking. If his most recent picture is anything is anything to go by, then he’s relatively thin and trim.
Thus, the answer is none of the 6 people pictured on that website are Phreak615. I believe that there is an 80% chance that he is, in fact, Devon Soltendieck, as we had mentioned a while back. So Devon, now that the jig is basically up, just pack up and go home. It’s enough already. You’ve toyed with us long enough, and this whole thing turned out to be a stupid contest. I bet this whole thing must mean that Devon is leaving Much to pursue other projects, and wants to go out in “style”. Either that or he wants to get his own show where people will be encouraged to send in videos agreeing or disagreeing with different topics. However, judging by the above photo, there is a possibility that Phreak615 might be Tim Deegan, or maybe even someone else who presently works for Much. You can see some brown hair showing at the bottom on the blue mask in Phreak’s most recent photo. Well, now that we know what this whole thing is all about, I can honestly say that it totally lacks style. Wow, how the mighty have fallen. Weak idea, Much. Very weak. What was once a fascinating ARG has now become a worthless waste of time.
And if you like that, then you should read the essay that CVJ posted on Phraud615’s blog. You can read it here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3731404023485305150&postID=3586393656486566125.
Enjoy.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
[...] stumbled upon the latest posting on Dabbler.ca about what Phreak615 is – it turns out to be a lousy contest dubbed, “Phind the Phreak” [...]
May 20th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Personally, I think this whole fiasco is more of a con test than a contest.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Poor Much Music marketing team. Bet the lines at the unemployment office are really long this time of year. Maybe being hip to the Interweb will help… Probably not…
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Where are you getting this data that people hate the contest and that it’s backfired. If Dabbler is going to be taken seriously as a legitimate information source, I’m confused as to where this information comes from. Just from the comments on this page? I’ve read most fo the comments and would say there’s been a healthy debate, but don’t think you can jump to conclusions like that based only on comments on your own site! I’m still intrigued to see what comes of this Phreak thing.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I base most of my comments on Phreak’s own site. Even the people who were 100% behind what Phreak was doing, now seem to be jumping ship. The type of individuals that were attracted to the idea of someone hacking a major TV network also appear to be repulsed at the idea that a corperation (”The Man”)would disguise itself behind a ruse of anarchy and rebellion.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
But the one person who hasn’t given up was one CVJ. He’s been leaving essays as posts on phreak’s blog. However, Mr. phreak decided to lay the smack down on CVJ, and the result is one of the best videos that I’ve ever seen. Check it out on the phreaker’s blog now.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Agreed, the latest video is quite entertaining.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Has anyone ever thought that this new (and clearly poorly thought out contest) might be more damage control than a campaign? I mean seriously…Inter-web…having a blog….Much knows these terms are lame…but isn’t trying to be cool the most un-cool thing you can do? What better way to be cool than to be un-cool?! This looks to me like big wigs at Much freaked (no pun intended) out about the possible hacking and lack of readiness on behalf of it’s IT team (as phreak has bashed before) and now they are trying to spin this the way that makes them look good.
Phreak still has the possibility of being real.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Oh no….. please don’t tell me we are back to that again….
July 19th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
And MOD played a clip of Devon Soltendieck in Paris wearing the same shirt Phreak was wearing when he was in Paris.