A British ad campaign has people accusing Ask.com of being a corporate wolf in radical activist’s clothing, the WSJ reports. The online, TV, radio, and outdoor campaign – no print ads, which were deemed too “corporate” by its agency, Publicis’ Fallon – is designed to appear as though a protest group is devoted to combating “establishment” control of the internet, represented by a certain large search engine. The ads, which began appearing March 12, do not mention Ask.com or its obvious target, Google. Instead, users are directed to a website, www.information-revolution.org, that asks people to “try a new search engine” by clicking either Ask.com, Google, MSN or Yahoo. Still, the site doesn’t seem to be hiding the connection with Ask.com, since the company’s logo is clearly superimposed over a fist. It also features a fairly prominent photo and quote about “searching for alternatives” from Apostolos Gerasoulis, who is identified as the “creator of Ask.com search.” And while most people probably don’t click the Terms & Conditions section, the first line does say the site is provided by “IAC Search & Media Europe Limited (Ask.com, we or us).”
Nevertheless, the WSJ reports that individuals, joining the site’s chatroom, have dominated it with complaints of being duped “by an inferior search engine.” Fallon insists it isn’t troubled by the buzz backlash, however. The reasoning: since Ask.com was used for 4.3 percent of all U.K. searches in January, according to comScore, and compared to Google’s 75 percent of U.K. searches, the IAC unit has very little to lose.