GUERILLA MARKETING/PR WATCH

maisonneuve.org: Are You for Real?
Theater student Natalie Alvarez takes a close look at Jonathan
Ressler's "guerrilla advertising" company, Big Fat, Inc. In order
to bypass consumer skepticism about advertising, Ressler hires
"real people" to talk up his clients' products in bars, parks and
other public places. "We plant a group of people in a bar or other
public setting and instruct them to use a brand, perform a ritual,
repeat a sound bite, and involve others in the activity," Ressler
explains. As these "secret agents of capitalism" invade our daily
routines, Alvarez ponders the blurred boundaries between illusion
and reality, theater and life. "It's The Truman Show," says an
advertising executive. "Did your wife marry you because she loves
you, or because she wants you to buy a certain brand of soap?"