A botched revolt against Google

In the graphical style of a 21st century revolutionary movement, Google's rivals are mounting an advertising campaign against the increasingly dominant search engine. Stop the online information monopoly, the catchline urges, in this poster, spotted in a London tube carriage, by Ben Werdmuller. It's not a dumb strategy for an also-ran. Apple's campaign against the dictatorship of the PC, which dates back to its famous 1984 ad, helped it retain a few non-conformists. But, unwisely, the anti-Google campaign's authors appear to disguise their role. The ad promotes information-revolution.org, a domain owned by Profero, a marketing firm retained by search rivals Ask and Yahoo. I'm sure the agency's creatives proposed a deeply ironic guerrilla campaign; it may have been, as the Brits say, too clever by half; Ask and Yahoo just look sneaky. Click here for a close-up of the ad.

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