'The Unabomber hates the algorithm'

Here's the latest billboard in Crispin, Porter & Bogusky's bizarre campaign for Ask, IAC's search engine, snapped on Highway 101, going north, in Redwood City. The quick take? The mention of the word "algorithm" still makes me think of Google, despite Ask's attempt to rid itself of the cuddly butler mascot, and assume an aura of technological sophistication. The Unabomber: wasn't he somebody back in the 1990s? Oh, yes, he hated technology: but I had to look up the crazed hermit on the web before I remembered that. In any case, if he develops paranoid fantasies about a search engine, it's bound to be Google. One change: this billboard is a little less mysterious than its predecessors. The Ask logo — with "the algorithm" as a tagline — is prominent, rather than hidden in the small print. This is what a magician would call the reveal.

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