Spring Break
Fliers for missing girl may be ad campaign
Michael Rizzo
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: News
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Marc Ames, a senior history major, logged on to MySpace Wednesday morning to check out a page with a special purpose.
He got the link off one of the missing posters for Amy Pressman, 22, of Agoura Hills, that went up on corkboards around campus this weekend.
The creator of the page, Pressman's cousin Taylor, uses it to chronicle the search for her relative, who she says went missing on June 2. Ames was able to link to Pressman's personal MySpace, where he read her blogs and the comments her friends had posted over the last few months.
"It's a cool idea," he said. "I wonder if it will be effective. I think the fact that they're trying to raise awareness through a MySpace page touches the heart, but I just don't know if they're doing anything more than the police already have."
What Ames didn't know yet is that Pressman isn't really a missing person.
Although the About Me section of the MySpace page says "the authorities, as usual, are 'doing all they can,'" to find her, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it has no missing person report for Pressman. And a LexisNexis database search of California newspapers for Amy Pressman returns no results.
The only place to find information on Pressman is in the blogosphere. RumorsDaily.com picked up the story in late July and bloggers began reporting that the disappearance story is all a hoax. They say the source of the posters and Web page can be traced to Fourth Floor Productions, an underground media production company that calls its style of advertising "controversial marketing."
Dustin Grabiner, the company's production designer, also has a MySpace and Taylor is No. 1 on his Top Friends.
"That's a pretty messed up way to advertise," Ames said after hearing all this. "I think it's pretty sick what they're doing."
Bloggers admitted that they don't know what it is the posters or page are advertising, but said everything they've figured out so far leads them to believe it may be a movie or some other type of media.
He got the link off one of the missing posters for Amy Pressman, 22, of Agoura Hills, that went up on corkboards around campus this weekend.
The creator of the page, Pressman's cousin Taylor, uses it to chronicle the search for her relative, who she says went missing on June 2. Ames was able to link to Pressman's personal MySpace, where he read her blogs and the comments her friends had posted over the last few months.
"It's a cool idea," he said. "I wonder if it will be effective. I think the fact that they're trying to raise awareness through a MySpace page touches the heart, but I just don't know if they're doing anything more than the police already have."
What Ames didn't know yet is that Pressman isn't really a missing person.
Although the About Me section of the MySpace page says "the authorities, as usual, are 'doing all they can,'" to find her, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it has no missing person report for Pressman. And a LexisNexis database search of California newspapers for Amy Pressman returns no results.
The only place to find information on Pressman is in the blogosphere. RumorsDaily.com picked up the story in late July and bloggers began reporting that the disappearance story is all a hoax. They say the source of the posters and Web page can be traced to Fourth Floor Productions, an underground media production company that calls its style of advertising "controversial marketing."
Dustin Grabiner, the company's production designer, also has a MySpace and Taylor is No. 1 on his Top Friends.
"That's a pretty messed up way to advertise," Ames said after hearing all this. "I think it's pretty sick what they're doing."
Bloggers admitted that they don't know what it is the posters or page are advertising, but said everything they've figured out so far leads them to believe it may be a movie or some other type of media.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Garret
posted 9/20/07 @ 12:06 PM PST
This article reminds me of the fable about shouting "wolf." If they keep this up, next time we have to look for someone...we won't--we'll think it's another hoax. (Continued…)
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