This just in from Agency Spy. Well, this would explain the whole William Hung thing!
Ohhh… A contestant on the West African version of American Idols has been exposed as an actor created by Ogilvy Johannesburg to give a boost to the ratings. The contestant, Cliff Jennings, was played by film- maker and director Eduan van Jaarsveldt who also owns Stealth Donkey pictures. The stunt worked as “Cliff” now has a cult following due to his terrible voice and the slammings he received by the judges. Watch the video above to see him in action.
A few days later, Ogilvy Johannesburg was forced to come clean right after “Cliff Jennings: Living The Dream” was prematurely, featured on Ads Of The World. The spots have since been pulled from the site. We remember blowing by them without much thought last week. Shucks. Ogilvy is saying that neither the station nor the show hired them. So who did? In any case, “Cliff” is claiming that the judges knew all about on the scheme on his hard to comprehend blog. Hmmm….
It’s not surprising to see that someone hired an advertising agency to boost ratings for a TV show. That’s what agencies do - get people to pay attention to a product, service, interest. And by golly, it worked. The problem is that now, viewers will look at Idols as rigged or suspect (with good reason) ruining the whole concept behind the show - any woman/man can be the next big thing.
Link: Agency Spy.
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