Marketing madness on the Web

Jane Wells Correspondent • Profile • E-mail

LOS ANGELES - Marketing madness on the web. It’s the newest cat and mouse game in town. One famous lonely girl, who wasn’t so lonely after all.  There are things on the Internet, which aren’t true, and this story is how the new and old media combined forces to uncover the latest brilliant marketing ploy for what could be the future of entertainment.

The latest proof that on the Web things are increasingly not what they seem, and users increasingly know it.

“When you go to those websites you can’t really expect the truth”, said Richard Rushfield of the Los Angeles Times.

For months she’s been attracting millions of YouTube viewers with a series of short videos under the name Lonely Girl 15. She’s a techie fantasy: home schooled, geeky, repressed, attractive and attracted to the mysterious Daniel.

Bloggers questioned her authenticity from the start, the videos were too polished. So, the mystery changed from “is she real?” to “what’s the point?”

Turns out Lonely Girl 15 isn’t lonely and she’s not 15. She’s identified as 19-year-old New Zealand born actress Jessica Rose, and these videos were made by three, 20-something guys trying to break into the movie biz.

Now Hollywood has come calling with powerhouse CAA representing the group.

“We wanted to create a fictional show for the Internet and that’s what we’ve done”, said Lonelygirl 15 Co-Creator Miles Beckett.

But is there a movie here? Or do some things work better in two minutes on YouTube rather than two hours at the Cineplex.  Yet to surface is the actress herself, who’s gone Greta Garbo as the Lonelygirl saga figures out how not to blow the next move.

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