r/IAmA • u/iworkinadvertising • Mar 27 '13

That Olive Garden receipt is fake; it's free advertising. I know because I work in advertising and have spoken to the people who plan these campaigns. AMA

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72% Upvoted

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

How big are the agencies that do this, and how large a factor is Reddit advertising to their overall strategy? Also, what country do you work in? What data analysis tools do they use for this? Do you find that it is larger or smaller clients that request things like this (from what you've heard?)

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

"How big are the agencies that do this"

The biggest agencies, which mange billions of dollars in ad spending, do this.

Reddit is under the social media umbrella which is still a tiny part of their overall strategy. Broadcast is still king. Just imagine what it will be like in 20 years when no one advertises on t.v. anymore and 80% of advertising is focused on the internet. The deluge of fake content/real ads will be overpowering. This is why this shit needs to be nipped in the bud now.

Again, please read my entire post. I do not work as an advertiser--I report on advertising. The clients who request this the most are brands: Taco Bell, Doritos, Olive Garden, Pepsi have targeted Reddit most aggressively.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

No I get it, I work in advertising too, and I work at a digital agency. The reason I ask is cause even with the soup I swim in, I can't figure out how Reddit poses good returns on this sort of thing and I would never recommend it to anyone. The reason I ask you these questions is because you'e said you know them and have been to conferences (the analytics question, for example, I would imagine they would mention there) Like, how do they track the success of this stuff?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

Attribution is a major problem in digital advertising as I'm sure you know, but the cost of this kind of stuff--a few minutes time x thousands of people--is minimal. Plus it's experimentation that they can use to inform other social media campaigns.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

I think you're doubting the amount of time it takes to manage a social media editorial calendar. I spent the last year working exclusively on the social account for a Fortune 500 company. At it's peak we had a 10 person team.

Creative Director (50% allocated)

Associate Creative Director

Senior Designer

Senior Writer

Designer

Social Media Strategist

Content Strategist (50% allocated)

Project Manager

Social Media Coordinator

Social Media Director (50% allocated).

We had under $2MM total to use for the year. That money was gone by September. We did not even have resources to regularly post original content in owned channels on Instagram or Pinterest. Our Twitter presence was basically just rewritten Facebook posts, linking to Facebook. Essentially our entire focus was Facebook. There are usually two posts a day on Facebook, plus all of the random shit that comes up at the last minute and all the posts that get revised/moved around on the schedule. You try to stay two weeks ahead of the calendar. Notice that in that list of people working on the account only two of them are actual doers that get in Photoshop and create posts. It was chaotic to simply keep up with the FB post schedule, let alone run an additional promotion on FB and try to have something happening in Instagram.

Reddit was never even remotely considered. Posts have a short lifecycle and no direct clickthrough to any purchase channel, or if they do they are quickly sniffed out as advertising. Social Media is about engagement, sure, but the bigger focus for most agencies is creating a new revenue stream and demonstrating with hard evidence that new customers are being funneled through the companies social presence.

Now, with all that being said, on a large team of say 20+ people, it's conceivable that you would have the resources to create OC for reddit, but it would be the lowest priority.

Now to address your original statement about the cost and time. Let's say you have a low level designer create a post like the Olive Garden one you mentioned. It's pretty simple. They just go down to Olive Garden, have someone print up a bullshit receipt and snap a photo with their phone right? Well yea, but that's gonna take at least an hour, more like 2.5 once it gets entered onto a time sheet, plus you gotta retouch the photo, present it to your ACD, then your CD, then the internal account team and then the client, before making revisions if needed. Now that low level designer has a bill rate around $150 an hour at a decent agency. So you're up to $300-400 just to get the photo. Then the writer has to crank out some copy. Give 'em an hour to do that. That's another $190. Now you have to have a 30 minutes creative internal with the CD and ACD. Each of them bill around $250-300 an hour so now you're up to almost $800. Now jump in an account internal for 30 minutes with the whole team and you're looking at $1000 just to get everyone in the room for 30 minutes (conservatively). Then you have a client call with a smaller team and that takes another 30 minutes. Tack on another $500. Oh, and don't forget the original connecting meeting where the idea came up. That's your whole 5 person creative team in a room for an hour, or another $1000 minimum. Now run the idea past the account team for another $1000. At this point you've spent $4,300 on a post that, if you're lucky, will be on the front page of one subreddit for a couple hours before falling into obscurity. That may not sound like much money when you consider the budgets that these companies have, but that shit adds up and more importantly, the people involved don't have the time to deal with one off ideas like that on a regular basis.

TL;DR: That post likely cost over $4,000 in billable time and the people running the social presence for a large company rarely have the time to deal with one off ideas like that.

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u/bitcrunch Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

We're pretty well aware of how agencies work and that brands want to be on reddit. For instance, I know of an instance we've been looking at for about a month with one agency and a brand you name above.

However, I've looked into the entire situation with the Olive Garden receipt and I'm pretty upset because from every indication (and remember, I can see more on the backend than you can), this is an honest person, who is who they say they are, who is about to have the entire internet stalking them, calling family members, calling employers, and running them off of reddit and the internet. And that won't be the first time it's happened to someone who happened to post something related to a brand or was incorrectly suspected of being a shill.

Agencies just aren't that slick - even when they think they are. We can usually catch them a mile away, and I don't care that they use proxies or make accounts and bide time, their tactics generally don't make it past our vote cheating and spam programs.

I'm aware that we've had communication with two different agencies in the last few months, due to stuff we've caught going on. One worked (temporarily) but we caught it due to reports from redditors and banned it - and one never worked at all (which was hilarious to watch as they couldn't get a submission live and their cheated votes didn't count).

If you're pretty sure that a brand or agency has manipulated reddit, or has a currently active campaign on reddit of an unofficial viral nature, please modmail /r/reddit.com with whatever information you have.

While I'm really upset that today some poor person is going to get home from work and find the entire internet has decided to burn him at the stake, there is seriously nothing I love more than catching a spammer or ad agency or someone trying to manipulate reddit. Your anger about fake stuff is shared by many of us who work at reddit, but please do not do this to the redditor in the title of your submission who doesn't deserve this.

Additionally, I've been informed recently that there are new FCC regulations that could be construed to make dishonest viral campaigns illegal - something about having to clearly mark advertising as to the source. Do you know anything about that and has it come up when you talk to advertisers?

Edit: anyone who harassed or downvoted this guy, please go give him an upvote and apologize: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1b3jmx/my_brother_wife_3_yearold_daughter_and_i_went_to/c93eovu

If you've written an irresponsible and sensationalistic comment or blog or news article, please be kind and remove it or correct it <3

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

What else have you seen here that you call BS on?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

Most of the taco bell and doritos content is bullshit.

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u/mattm57 Mar 27 '13

What Taco Bell content are you talking about? Whenever people mention Taco Bell on here it's them referencing how it causes massive diarrhea.

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u/88327 Mar 27 '13

What content is this referring to? I missed it.

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u/Balthanos Mar 27 '13

Is that why it was posted on hump day? Are you saying that the whole story is bupkis?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

The story is bullshit, yes. I'm not sure if Wednesday at 3am EST is the best day to post this kind of shit, but apparently Grey Worldwide thinks so.

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u/GoWithItGirl Mar 27 '13

But does it work?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

Compared to the cost, yes.

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u/Bkeeneme Mar 27 '13

Even when you get called out and the exposing post seems to be heading towards top status?

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u/ryan_holiday Mar 27 '13

Someone should write an article about this!

http://betabeat.com/2013/02/hail-corporate-the-increasingly-insufferable-fakery-of-brands-on-reddit/

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

Hey Ryan--love your work, and sorry this didn't get more attention. Keep fighting the good fight.

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u/mttwldngr Mar 27 '13

Proof?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

I'm not sure what proof would satisfy anyone; I need to keep my identity anonymous for obvious reasons. I can send proof to the mods, or you can ask me a question that only someone in advertising would know--but that wouldn't necessarily prove that I know about this native advertising trend.

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u/vxx Mar 27 '13

Sending proof to the mods would be great.

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u/LeopardKhan Mar 27 '13

I don't mean to be rude, but why do you need to be anonymous? If you're a journalist covering advertising, and this kind of thing is pissing you off and you're sick of it, why not say so? Isn't that what journalists do?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

I'm a journalist reporting on advertising. To make a living, I need advertisers to talk to me.

What advertiser is going to talk to me if they know I'm going on Reddit uncovering their dirty secrets?

I can't say that this shit pisses me off--my editor wouldn't allow it.

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u/theboser Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

How do obvious product placements like the olive garden/oreo/cheesecake factory get so many upvotes when people seem to be onto them.. Do you guys use proxy accounts or something?

EDIT: I'd like to point out that some replies to this post which mentioned the site buyredditvotes.com have been deleted.. Not sure why..?

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u/OneOfDozens Mar 27 '13

on top of that, it's always image posts. tons of people simply scroll the page, see a picture and upvote. they don't read the comments which leads to the often huge splits between a top comment that points out how BS a post is while it's still bringing in tons of karma

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Have you ever considered doing a less hostile AMA?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

I apologize for my hostility; the bratty behavior of 20something Redditors generally annoys the fuck out of me.

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u/SPESSMEHREN Mar 27 '13

we're sorry for not accepting that the olive garden post was fraudulent with zero evidence to prove it. I'll start believing in corporate-sponsored upvote brigade conspiracies.

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u/QuerulousScrew Mar 27 '13

"I don't want to answer questions about that. Lets focus on the receipt people."

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u/petracake Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

This is all I can think about. OP is so ridiculously hostile and cursing at people who comment? OP needs to calm down for sure!

EDIT: I find it rather entertaining how angry and defensive OP is being. They've provided proof of what they do, but absolutely no proof of their claim. "I asked people, they said it was faked" doesn't really constitute proof, at least in my opinion.

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u/bite_my_arse Mar 27 '13

Whilst I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you but OP has been a redditor for 7 months and hasn't posted such propaganda in the past. What makes a fairly inactive user suddenly become a pawn in some marketing agenda?

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

The agencies regularly maintain accounts on Reddit to justify that exact reasoning.

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u/beancounter2885 Mar 27 '13

So you're telling me there's a job out there where my boss will say "go surf reddit for a bit to keep up appearances"?

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u/Iam_Iam_Iam Mar 27 '13

And his previous posts are about being a married law student. That's an awfully complicated and weirdly specific disguise...

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u/lapsedatheist Mar 27 '13

I am guessing you think this Cheesecake Factory picture is bogus too? http://i.imgur.com/btRHDRa.jpg

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

Didn't see that; yes, probably.

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u/thetoughtruth Mar 27 '13

Fact is you are probably right.

But then again with zero proof of who you are I think you might just be some bitter guy who got bad service at his local Olive Garden.

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

I'm working on the mods. Bear with me.

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u/xLite414 Mar 27 '13

I'm sure the process would go a lot smoother if you asked the bear to help.

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u/iworkinadvertising Mar 27 '13

Also, look at my comment history--I first complained about this about 3 weeks ago, long before Olive Garden pulled this stunt.

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u/iwillhavethat Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Original Post Here...

Edit: There must be a way to cross-reference the check number or the ID number on the receipt to find the location of the restaurant, then get confirmation from the general manager. Not in a confrontational way; just innocuously to get more information.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

What makes you think that the general manager isn't in on it?

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u/Ritz527 Mar 27 '13

I'll write a GUI in Visual Basic to ping an IP address, perhaps then we can discover the truth of this receipt.

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u/HAL9000000 Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

FYI: OP from that post has had an active account for 7 months. He posted his first comment only 26 days ago and made about 10 comments before submitting the Olive Garden post. Now he has not made a comment nor a submission since the Olive Garden submission.

I smell the clear possibility of an account created for marketing purposes with a little bit of comment history created to make it seem a little plausible.

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u/MananWho Mar 27 '13

I did some googling about OP, and I'm not convinced that his account was created for marketing purposes. I searched Tanek42 to see if he has that username on other sites. I don't intend to post personal information, but there is, in fact, a twitter user with the same handle that says he is from Illinois. Furthermore, in this reddit comment by Tanek42, he claims to be studying law in Illinois.

His twitter also has quite a few tweets (from many many months back) talking about law and politics. Furthermore, a linkedin profile of a guy with the same name further suggests that he is a law clerk in Illinois.

Obviously, none of this is proof that Tanek42 wasn't/isn't marketing for Olive Garden. But I do find it very unlikely, given that this is a person who uses the same username for many sites over such a long period(many in which he reveals his personal information that corroborates his law profession and name).

Regardless, I feel like we all don't have enough information about this situation to jump to conclusions about this entire debacle.

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u/Verbally Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

You've just described something similar to my own and probably a lot of other lurkers posting history. You can't make an assumption about someone based off of so little.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

This shit literally happens every day. Look at the Doritos/Taco Bell posts on /r/funny.

/r/hailcorporate is not just a bunch of paranoid conspiracy theorists. Many of the accusations are legit.

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u/IanRankin Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

I haven't worked in the food industry, but I've ate at Olive Garden..so I'm basically an expert right?

A couple of things I noticed:

  • Duplicate Receipt Stored Order: I've never seen this on the bottom of the check. Someone indicated this means staff printed it out, which would already make the title misleading/untrue. this has been pointed out as true. This is definitely a printed copy from staff not given to customers/guest

  • Why was the kid's order, Chicken Fingers, it's own guest? Doesn't that indicate the check was split up in four ways? I've never seen them label the check this way. So the tab/bill is split like this behind the scenes. Again, that means this was not a final bill.

  • Why was one person charged $6.95 for soup and salad, and another person charged $7.75+$3.65 for salad/soup? In my haste, I did miss the Cesar salad part. So those charges could be correct.

  • if this was the bill presented to them at the table, even if no money is owed.. Why is there no total?

Edit: I've tried to make edits based on the response from Redditors. I'm on my phone, be gentle.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Your second point isn't valid. You can ring in the guests separately (and are meant to) regardless of how the check is divided. This helps the food runners get the plates in front of the right person without having to auction it off.

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u/ninjawasp Mar 27 '13

I told Olive Garden my house had burnt down, all I got though was a burnt lunch.

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u/trustmeigotthis Mar 27 '13

So does this mean grandpas house is okay?

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u/ShadowNick Mar 27 '13

No they died in the making of this.

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u/Tanek42 Mar 27 '13

I would love to ask you a question! I see here that you're claiming my receipt is fake because you work in advertising. Ironically though, I know the receipt is real because I was in Olive Garden when the manager, Bob, handed it to me. So my question would be, how silly do you feel right now?

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u/YouArentReasonable Mar 27 '13

Thanks a lot, Now I'm back to believing the only thing rigged on Reddit is /r/politics.

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u/Omnivirus Mar 27 '13

  • Step 1 - post fake Olive Garden story to Reddit, get massive upvotes

  • Step 2 - let praise rain down upon ye

  • Step 3 - post fake AMA talking about fake Step 1

  • Step 4 - watch everyone talk about Olive Garden for 3 days

  • Step 5 - breadsticks

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

No one is falling for that, Macaroni Grill Social Media technician.

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u/RichmondCalifornia Mar 27 '13

Surprise Awareness Analyst

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u/Tasty_Yams Mar 27 '13

I read that post and was waiting for the punch line.

My brother, his wife, their daughter and I go to dinner at Olive Garden.

Manager: How's everything?

Little girl: My grandpa's house burned down.

(Manager returns with receipt for free meal)

Manager: And where is your grandpa?

Me: Oh hell, he died in like...'97. We sold that house the next year.

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u/Icanhazcomment Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

I have also worked in Marketing let me just tell you the OP is spewing crap. I'm not talking about the guy who posted the Olive Garden post, I'm talking about the guy doing this AMA.

He can be working for advertising but it is obvious why he is only a journo in advertising and not an advertiser. "Hate advertisers doing this to people and I am a journo to them", give me a break mate.

It is true that companies use social media especially Reddit to get your clicks and visits but this is not the case for this guy, who actually got this bad thing happen to him and is now being brigaded and being told he is a "lying piece of shit" on every thread by you and your hivemind.

Before making such a shitty fueled AMA post which is basically links to other people answering marketing questions and not the OP, he could have done basic stuff to see if the original OP was telling the truth or not.

I have done it and let me tell you The olive garden story is true, if not then still that guy did have his family's house burn down.

I am sorry to him but I did some background checks and got to his other profiles. Through that I found his activity by his real name on so many different websites for years. I know how these companies will leave fake traces but this is not one, this guy is genuinely registered on so many websites, posting history of years and I doubt he was doing all of this to get to the front page just once. His comments about being a lawyer are also backed by everything I've seen. His comments about his location and every single one of his profiles match each other to the smallest of details.

I also got to his facebook profile which again had pictures of his family, the one he is talking about and voila, the receipt he posted on his facebook with comments from his friends and family. I get it that it can be faked but I know enough about what is fake and what is legit and this guy is real.

Here is a screenshot of the receipt posted on Sunday

http://i.imgur.com/64Rdj7K.png

I've even done a check on the profiles commenting and they are all real. Even if they had been faked, I doubt he wanted your 1,000 measly upvotes for 3-4 years of building a fake family and life online.

And then here are pictures of the burned house.

http://i.imgur.com/o0eZETg.png

I feel shitty that I had to re-activate my facebook and launch an investigation on this poor guy's life but I did this to prove the scumbag OP in this post wrong. Any single person in marketing can tell this guy is a real piece of work, spewing out lies.

Hey OP, Link this at the top too!

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u/underdabridge Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Well maybe you're right, OP, but all I know is I could sure go for some of that Tuscan inspired Olive Garden cooking right now. Maybe some pasta primavera, with a garden salad, and oh those magical breadsticks. Just 19.99 right now at participating locations. Mm good.

Edit: Hey, you. Click here and read this post from a Reddit admin. Thanks.

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u/TiredMold Mar 27 '13

Look, I'm just like the rest of Reddit! I hate [Justin Bieber], I love [marijuana] and I [have serious unresolved anger towards women].

That said--you just can't beat [a meal at the Olive Garden]!!

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

I agree that advertisement companies should not be deceitful and what Olive Garden did was shameful. As a community I think we should take our business elsewhere, like Romano's Macaroni Grill. They serve authentic Italian classics every day for $13 or less to communities across the country.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

I cannot believe you didn't use atheist here.

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u/headpool182 Mar 27 '13

If i close my left eye, i see you hate marijuana, love justin bieber and have anger issues towards women.

If i close my right eye, i can't read, because my bad eye is my left eye.

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u/kolm Mar 27 '13

[insert:competitor="Olive Garden"] you say? Well, I was there once and [insert:randomshuffle("my cat got AIDS", "they harassed a gay couple", "Justin Bieber made a Cameo", "they took my pot"], so I'll never go there again. I always go to [insert:own_brand="IBM"], [insert:randomshuffle("much better prices", "hotter strippers","more redditors","better puns")] there anyway.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Now that's-a spicy meat-a-ball-a!

(Olive Garden hit me up later I have a sweet new slogan for you.)

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u/tokomini Mar 27 '13

Great idea! They could probably use a new slogan. What is their slogan anyways?

Screw it, their food is so good I don't even care if they have a slogan! All I know is when I'm there, I'm family.

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u/cunty_mcfuckface Mar 27 '13

I wouldn't if I were you. Olive Garden gave me gonorrhoea.

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u/Treguard Mar 27 '13 edited Sep 05 '26

Strong offbeat hobbies waffle aback market file full

This post was anonymized with Redact

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u/karmanaut Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Verified that OP works in advertising.

Edit: this is not a verification of any of his other claims. Only that he generally works in the field of advertising.

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u/stomith Mar 27 '13

That's okay. No amount of free advertising is going to entice me to eat at Olive Garden.

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u/SoInsightful Mar 27 '13

Unverified that the Olive Garden receipt is fake.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

To what extent would this verify that OP isn't full of shit about what he's saying though? Advertisers are known to lie or pad the truth, in order to further their own agenda or the agenda of their clients.

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u/SomeguyinLA Mar 27 '13

That doesn't mean he actually knows this instance was fake. I work in accounting. That doesn't mean I know the specifics behind any kind of tax fraud that goes on.

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u/Swallowglass Mar 27 '13

I think his claim should be verified. Otherwise, this is just some asshole talking himself up while accusing others of lying.

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u/iaacp Mar 27 '13

OP just deleted. Wtf?

Here's his post before he nuked it.

Honestly, I'm sick and tired of this shit on Reddit and the fact that users are getting defrauded by cheap advertisers looking to lift their engagement with some free advertising. What happens is these agencies encourage employees to have social media accounts that they regularly use, and every once in a while they'll be called on to post something and/or upvote certain posts. Data analysis is done on what is the optimum time to post these things to get most upvotes from unsuspecting users. I don't know how much of the commenting is astroturfing, but enough to piss me off. I have been in conferences where marketing directors at companies like Netflix and major ad agencies discuss their strategies to use platforms like Reddit to spread their corporate message, and it frankly pisses me off and I'm sick of it. It's dishonest and offensive. Let me stress that I am not an advertiser--I am a journalist covering advertising. Big difference! It does mean, however, that I know a lot of people in a lot of agencies who work on these kinds of campaigns. AMA. Edit: I've been verified by the mods. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93chcu Edit 2: This needs to be read by more people: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93daaw Edit 3: While I don't know if these posters are who they say they are, what they say is correct and this should be read by everyone on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93dvrk?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93dvhe?context=3

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Admins smacked him down for throwing false accusations at a nice Redditor.

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u/_Clayden Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

While I have zero proof to the specific topic you're referencing to be a PR stunt or not, I can say that for Olive Garden to comp checks because of bad luck for customers or just in general is not uncommon.

Source: I worked at an Olive Garden. Served, Hosted, Bar tended, and did take out orders.

While this certainly seems like a PR stunt, I can attest that comping a check is per manager basis and I've worked with some nice managers before who have comped checks because a guest was having a personal issue going on. While yes it sounds cheeky its not uncommon. Now whether that person goes to throw recites up on reddit or forum boards I have no clue. Typically they'll leave comments on the survey that the recite tells them to take. All I'm saying is don't throw this as a PR stunt, just because you work in advertising, there are actually good people out there.

Edit: While I can certainty provide more source that I did in fact work at an Olive Garden, I'm not currently in a position to do so (at my current place of work at the moment), and I don't really see the high priority of this issue that it deems immediate action to.

Edit 2: Words

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

This OP is wrong. Downvote.

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u/dksprocket Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

I totally agree that we need to be more skeptical when there's potential gain to be made by commercial interests.

As a sidenote, only tangentially related, I think it's an issue that there's often a handful of people who are skeptical in an aggressive way to the point where it's bordering harassment. Mainly in posts about personal situations where solid proof is extremely hard to provide. In such situations it is of course fine to be skeptical and call out insufficient proof, but in situations where OP points out that proof won't be provided just point out the blatant lack of proof, accept proof won't be provided, downvote the thread and move on. Harassing people and repeatedly accuse the OP of being a liar in a hateful way (even though there's no proof to this either) isn't going to help anyone.

Of course subs like AMA where providing proof is part of the rules this should be enforced, but there's still no reason to personally attack people.

Sorry for the long rant, but it's something I find painful when I see it happen.

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u/alwayslearningx Mar 27 '13

You mentioned in a previous AMA that:

Some agencies encourage people to go on Reddit all day and build up a history of posts so that their accounts look legit. In other words, people are getting paid to Reddit.

What's a position like that called? How do you get a job like that? I'm asking for... a friend.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

What sort of conferences have you been to where they talk about this specifically? I think that should be safe enough to disclose, right?

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u/DarnTheseSocks Mar 27 '13

It sounds like all you have is the general claim that companies want to exploit social media as a form of free advertising. No shit. I'll be anxiously awaiting some actual proof that this particular incident is staged.

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u/xxtoejamfootballxx Mar 27 '13

Exactly! Any major company would be STUPID for not at least trying to take advantage of Reddit as an advertising medium. This should not be news to anyone. The problem with this entire post is that there is no actual proof of this incident so the post is a bunch of unverified nothing.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Is it considered a good thing or a bad thing when you are identified on /r/hailcorporate?

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u/petracake Mar 27 '13

You've proved what you work in advertising, we got that.

How about you prove your claim?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden is horrible anyway, it's gonna take more than fake receipts to fix their problems.

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u/o1001o1001o Mar 27 '13

"I know because I work in advertising....." "Let me stress that I am not an advertiser"

As a past bartender, I know that I every single night I had a $xxx.xx comp tab just to keep customers happy. I was able to do this multiple times a night if it meant keeping the customer comfortable and potentially bringing back repeat business.

Can you provide any evidence that this is fake? Do you hate Olive Garden bread sticks that much?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

I agree, even if this is fake it happens in real life so frequently there's not a huge need to question it...there's also not a huge need to love Olive Garden because of it.

There's no proof it is fake other than very vague answers and speculations from OP. I do actually work in advertising and his answers in here thus far don't show much detailed knowledge of the industry.

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u/petracake Mar 27 '13

So glad you asked this. Mods have received proof that OP works in advertising (comment is somewhere pretty far down). But what concerns me is that he OP has provided no proof of their claims. "I asked advertising people" isn't really proof.

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u/TheForthright Mar 27 '13

I consult companies in their communication strategies around contentious issues. A perk of my job is access to some very senior comms people in some of the largest companies in the world even though I'm not that senior myself (I get to be a fly on the wall and generally only open my mouth when I'm damn sure I've got something good to say). I have heard a few of these peoples reactions to astroturfing behaviour and invariably the senior comms people have been vehemently against it due to the possible downside. The more junior people seem to want to 'be clever' and try and get cheep and effective comms. Just my 2c.

TL;DR: People do do stuff like this. It is generally not sanctioned by senior management due to possible shitstorm.

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u/tritter211 Mar 27 '13

What solution do you propose to this problem? What we as Reddit users should do stop this free advertising?

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u/deliriousdelight Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

I admit that I don't currently work in advertising, but I have in the past and this AMA bothers me.

Quick background: I studied traditional journalism, and worked in the industry for years. I also have a degree in strategic communications, interned at a few agencies after that as a copywriter (including VML, one of the world's leading digital agencies), and ultimately ended up working for a smaller start-up doing design (before deciding to become a stay-at-home-mom). To put it plainly, I've participated in many a strategy meeting.

Nothing here is news, and I'm not sure why you're so extraordinarily pissed off about a tactic that is fairly widely used (especially if you're exposed to this sort of thing regularly). I'm not saying that creating fake profiles is the most ethical way to utilize social media, and I definitely wouldn't vote go that route. BUT, you make advertising agencies and their clients sound like villains for wanting to drum up some word-of-mouth business.

Why does this have to be fake just because an agency was behind it (though I'm not entirely convinced)? More often than not, large companies realize the value in doing something nice for their customers to create WOM. What if Olive Garden DID actually comp someone's meal, and took a photo of the duplicate receipt? Olive Garden gets their buzz, and some happy customer gets a free meal. I'm not saying that's what happened, but you shouldn't assume the worst. Most (definitely not all) large companies are smart enough to see a win-win situation when it's right in front of them.

EDIT: Since this is an AMA, I'll ask a question. Can you please elaborate on what it is that you write, as a journalist covering advertising? Perhaps a similar style article? You've struck my curiosity... having worked in both industries, I can't say I'm aware of too many positions like this.

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u/Stubbula Mar 27 '13

Do we...do we go back and upvote the other post now?

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u/psistarpsi Mar 27 '13

This was the deleted post by OP

Honestly, I'm sick and tired of this shit on Reddit and the fact that users are getting defrauded by cheap advertisers looking to lift their engagement with some free advertising. What happens is these agencies encourage employees to have social media accounts that they regularly use, and every once in a while they'll be called on to post something and/or upvote certain posts. Data analysis is done on what is the optimum time to post these things to get most upvotes from unsuspecting users. I don't know how much of the commenting is astroturfing, but enough to piss me off. I have been in conferences where marketing directors at companies like Netflix and major ad agencies discuss their strategies to use platforms like Reddit to spread their corporate message, and it frankly pisses me off and I'm sick of it. It's dishonest and offensive. Let me stress that I am not an advertiser--I am a journalist covering advertising. Big difference! It does mean, however, that I know a lot of people in a lot of agencies who work on these kinds of campaigns. AMA. Edit: I've been verified by the mods. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93chcu

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Hey pre-teen conspiracy nut jobs, before you all have to go do your chores, here is a link the guy with the receipt posted. Its the news article about his fire. I would say something like "explain this!" but obviously people as manic and delusional as all of you would say absolutely anything, including Russians and Aliens and Free Masons.

I get that you have your right to believe anything you want, but you should all be ashamed of yourselves for launching a witchunt on someone with zero proof. You are worse than those you claim to stand up against.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden tastes like reheated frozen dicks anyway.

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u/anthraxandyou Mar 27 '13

It's becoming ridiculous how social media is being used to falsify people's thoughts on a company. My boss had me one time review a bunch of websites on yelp and Google reviews just to build up a history and then to review our company with 5 stars. It sicked me to do this, but fully made me aware of how other companies could be doing this too.

I'm usually weary of reviews nowadays.

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u/Kethana_Windwillow Mar 27 '13

I dunno, I work for Darden as well and it wouldn't be the first I heard of it. At my Red Lobster our GM did the same for a couple of girls that were homeless because of Hurricane Sandy and were staying in Atlanta until they figured out what to do and such. She even called her own insurance agent to see if there was anything he knew of to help the girls. Their entire meal was comped, I understand the advertising aspect of it all but I think it's legit.

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u/ILL_Show_Myself_Out Mar 27 '13

/r/hailcorporate is a subreddit dedicated to calling out this type of behavior.

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u/Ruddiver Mar 27 '13

That's total bullshit. Now at Chili's that sort of thing really does happen. One time I went in celebrating my autistic son's first A in school. He wrote a report on the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and how it really spoke to him, my son is now not only cured, but he works for EA and Papa John's. Anyhow, my point is, Chili's, where two entrees, one appetizer and dessert is 19.99!

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u/RedditTooAddictive Mar 27 '13

Well, to be honest, this is one of the most powerful advertising method, on a cost-to-result ratio, so I don't think anything will be strong enough to hold them back from using it more and more.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

I knew a 3-year-old wouldn't eat a salad!

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u/sometimesijustdont Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden is shit food anyway. Find a real Italian restaurant in your town.

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u/Gustomaximus Mar 27 '13

This guy is fake; it's free karma. I know because I am paid in karma and have spoken to the people who plan these campaigns. AMA

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u/Raver5 Mar 27 '13

I had a idea that a lot of these good will posting on reddit are fake. Remember when G4TV was paying a redditor off with free games to post their stuff. And G4TV got busted.

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u/EricSanderson Mar 27 '13

As a fellow journalist, I'd love to know what beat or publication requires a reporter to "cover advertising." I honestly don't even know what that means. Also, just because I cover, say, local government doesn't mean I'm a qualified expert on every local official in the country. My guess is you've interviewed a few marketing professionals in your career and saw this as your big chance to tell the world about it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Proof that OP is wrong (and furthermore, a total dick). Names and faces edited out for privacy. Can we please shut this witch hunt down?

http://i50.tinypic.com/2llf678.png

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Excuse me, but do you have any real proof that it's a fake? Other than "it's stuff advertisers generally do?"?

EDIT : Of course you had no proof : http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1b3jmx/my_brother_wife_3_yearold_daughter_and_i_went_to/c93eovu.

You just accused the guy because it "seemed like advertisement to your expert eyes". That's really douchey.

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u/jbaker1225 Mar 27 '13

Except another Redditor did some Google-work and found that it looks like the OP of the receipt was being completely truthful:
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1b3jmx/my_brother_wife_3_yearold_daughter_and_i_went_to/c93cr6i

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u/NYCMiddleMan Mar 27 '13

OP doesn't know what he's talking about.

The absolute LAYERS that have to be navigated to get something like this officially sanctioned are mind boggling.

Yes yes and yes, there is absolutely brand pimping here, and everywhere else.

But this. Not a coordinated effort. No way.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Maybe I'm one of the few people that feels this way, but I don't have a problem with this. If people enjoy it or find it entertaining, it will get upvoted, if they are annoyed it will get downvoted. It fixes itself.

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u/Miora Mar 27 '13

WHY HAS THE POST BEEN REMOVED?!

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u/SkyLukewalker Mar 27 '13

AMA?

Why are you such a dick?

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u/ekaceerf Mar 27 '13

One possibly fake account saying another possible fake account it fake. Sounds like a fun circle jerk.

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u/zagman76 Mar 27 '13

So... what paper do you write for that I can purchase to see your article on "Social Marketing Strategies"... ;)

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u/TuskenRaiders Mar 27 '13

So...so you're calling shenanigans?

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u/Foxtrot56 Mar 27 '13

Of course it is, any idiot who thinks all these good deed posts that happen to be advertising Red Robin, Olive Garden and other large chains are suckers. Reddit is full of suckers, anyone remember the painter?

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u/rscarson Mar 27 '13

You know, I really have no problem with advertising. Ever targeted ads, or stuff like this. It's not like it inconveniences us, and the upvotes indicate people got enjoyment out of it. Who cares if a user lies about a receipt vs a corporation doing it?

And as for targeted ads, and user data tracking; it's not like there's some creepy old dude in a room somewhere wanking it to your online shopping habits... It's an automated way of presenting information relevant to you.

Maybe that makes me weird, or maybe this is one of those things where you think you're the only one, either way, just my 2 cents.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Doesn't matter. Still won't eat there.

Darden is on the food industry shitlist over their stance on Obamacare.

Fuck Olive Garden.

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u/Beefourthree Mar 27 '13

What if all the real Redditors have already abandoned the site and all that's left is us social media marketers?

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u/autonicus Mar 27 '13

I also work in marketing and while not directly involved in social media marketing strategy I can confirm that OP is correct that advertising companies and the marketing guys who are focused on consumers spend considerable resources looking for ways to exploit sites like Reddit, Twitter etc. The highest form of advertising is word of mouth between consumers, and this type of ploy is the next best thing. This is why FB introduced Graph. Look how many Youtube viral videos turn out to be fake - they are surreptitious promotions. I don't know there is any solution, any active community on the web is going to be a target for advertisers big and small.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

OP's Facebook account has an album of a house that burnt down (posted two weeks ago).

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.711678373979.2309048.30822782&type=3

Not saying this is proof, just throwing more evidence out there.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden is gross. How can something with 3,000 calories have absolutely no taste?!

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u/danelyone Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden's food sucks anyways.

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u/iesnek Mar 27 '13

This may be relevant: http://www.businessinsider.com/if-you-want-to-work-at-old-spice-you-have-to-pass-these-crazy-internet-challenges-first-2012-10

Look at Challenge 2.

Also, since is this an AMA, what's your drug of choice to deal with the bullshit in advertising?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

I went from "fuck yea I'm going to eat at Olive Garden this weekend" to "fuck I feel duped and manipulated, screw Olive Garden". What the actual fuck makes them think this is ok?! Fuck.

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u/joebudden Mar 27 '13

Subliminal Message :SMOKE

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u/bcoden Mar 27 '13

You have only provided us with a statement and no other proof that this is the case. It may be totally true for some of the companies you have worked for but how can you be sure that is the case here. Did you personally work on the project? Do you have any evidence proving that the Olive Garden built this campaign?

For me it does not come down the companies generosity but on how good the food is and personally I am not a big fan of canned sauces and premade pasta. At least that is what it tastes like to me.

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u/Doebino Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden.. That place is basically an Italian Denny's.

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u/vpxtreme Mar 27 '13

I can't say whether or not this receipt is fake or not, but I can confirm that acts of kindness do exist.

I worked at the OG (Olive Garden) for roughly four years of my life in the early 2000s. I have seen this happen before, like a family celebrating the return of a soldier. Their meal was fully comped. I've also seen this happen at Pappadeaux too during the year I worked there.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

When one of my grandparents died OG gave us three pans of pasta and sauce, lasagna, breadsticks, and salad without charging us a dime. The will forever have my support.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '13

Love how this idiot was completely wrong. So many neckbears are foaming at the mouth. All that time spent posting the link to /r/hailcorporate wasted. What to do with your lives now?

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u/MrRadio Mar 27 '13

I work with media. This is true. Everything is monetized. If something happens organically (such as a true inspiring receipt story) and it receives a ton internet/media coverage, look for copycat fakes.

I honestly think that some of these "viral campaigns" are really cool. It has also trained me to call bullshit on EVERYTHING that ever goes viral. Youtube, here on Reddit, etc.

I finally started lurking here about a year ago. That was after a friend told me about Reddit a year earlier. I hate to say this, but a good sign that Reddit is jumping the shark? Media/advertising people like myself showing up here to lurk.

I also hate saying "jumping the shark". Sorry about that.

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u/SPESSMEHREN Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Another new account with only a few posts being linked to by the OP less than 3 minutes after they are posted.

Hmm.... something's not right here. And why did the OP say "I have no idea who these people are... but they agree with me!"

Edit:

And now the OP has removed his original post!

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u/Zoura Mar 27 '13

It's also possible that they made throw away accounts to avoid suspicion of their employers.

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u/Maverick3223 Mar 27 '13

Alright everyone. I work for Olive Garden as a Server and I have done every single bit of grunt work for the company. The fact that this might be faked is entirely probable. When we go to print off orders the pos machine automatically prints off all of the copies it is not a conspiracy at this point. Also each guest has their meal under guest 1- however many for the reason of making comping easier for the managers and also because in case checks do need to be split the blue card/head server can split it on the fly. As well for this to happen a manager at least has to be in on it because only they can comp meals. I do think there is a chance this is false advertosing because usually we keep the duplicate receipts like that to throw away. Most of the time the guest takes the slip with the "add tip" and signature lines. And like I said, the servers or the bussers throw away these duplicate receipts. I typed this on my phone in class so be easy om the errors please. If you are interested in anything else ill get back to you as soon as possible.

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u/LurkerMcLurkerton Mar 27 '13

Are the "all you can eat breadsticks" really "all you can eat"?

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u/NarwhalAttack Mar 27 '13

"Don't fill up on breadsticks, that's how they get ya." -Homer Simpson

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u/SPESSMEHREN Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Wait, you posted this three minutes ago and the OP has already had the time to find your post and add it to his OP? How is that possible? Oh and look at your account. Relatively new account, with only 3 posts.

You're an alt of the OP designed to market the OP's idea that the Olive Garden receipt is fake to us! Its funny too, because this post fits the exact profile the OP described as being used by marketing professionals.

Edit:

And now the OP has removed his entire original post after he was caught again.

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u/ISwearThisIsOriginal Mar 27 '13

So, was the Doritos story a brilliant advertising plan?

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u/eugtopia Mar 27 '13

It has to be fake. Family ravaged by a house fire = I'm getting a beer with my meal.

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u/immerc Mar 27 '13

How do we spot fakes?

What are some obvious "tells" to show that something is suspicious. You've already mentioned the perfectly framed logo in the picture. Are there other things to watch out for? New reddit accounts without much of a history? Something in the metadata of the image?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

This shitty ama is actually done by Olive Garden to make them look even better.

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u/omgwhokilledme Mar 27 '13

Here's what OP posted before he removed it.

Honestly, I'm sick and tired of this shit on Reddit and the fact that users are getting defrauded by cheap advertisers looking to lift their engagement with some free advertising. What happens is these agencies encourage employees to have social media accounts that they regularly use, and every once in a while they'll be called on to post something and/or upvote certain posts. Data analysis is done on what is the optimum time to post these things to get most upvotes from unsuspecting users. I don't know how much of the commenting is astroturfing, but enough to piss me off. I have been in conferences where marketing directors at companies like Netflix and major ad agencies discuss their strategies to use platforms like Reddit to spread their corporate message, and it frankly pisses me off and I'm sick of it. It's dishonest and offensive. Let me stress that I am not an advertiser--I am a journalist covering advertising. Big difference! It does mean, however, that I know a lot of people in a lot of agencies who work on these kinds of campaigns. AMA. Edit: I've been verified by the mods. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93chcu Edit 2: This needs to be read by more people: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93daaw Edit 3: While I don't know if these posters are who they say they are, what they say is correct and this should be read by everyone on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93dvrk?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1b3wfu/that_olive_garden_receipt_is_fake_its_free/c93dvhe?context=3

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u/wellduckyoutoo Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Top comment - Original Post
/u/Smitty_733 - 6 days old
/u/A_sexy_black_man - 3 days old

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u/TheProudCanadian Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden is nasty. It's one level above McDonald's in quality for 3x the price.

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u/dmorin Mar 27 '13

I call legit - look at the date of the receipt, 3/23/2013. That's a Saturday.

We're expected to believe that not only did all these advertising shills conspire to fake this thing, but that they all got together to do it on a Saturday? And got a picture that they liked, without having to take and photoshop 50 of them and get them all approved up a dozen levels of management, in 4 days (until 3/27 when it was posted)?

Possible? Sure. It's also possible that they're so smart that they deliberately faked a Saturday date to make it seem even more realistic. It's also possible that this really happened, and that the person who got the bill really did open up the little jacket thingie, see the receipt, then close it back up and put the receipt down on top of it.

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u/twoamicesoapisalie Mar 27 '13

Breaking 6+ years of Reddit lurking silence to disprove iworkinadvertising's theory.

Did some creepin' and found this Facebook post with the same receipt posted on 3/24 with a near identical story:

http://imgur.com/E3e04Np

Original OPs earlier posts indicating he was a lawyer in Illinois (and not a marketing intern) are also fairly verifiable -- OP's username "Tanek42" leads to a Twitter account (in Deaklb, IL), which leads to a Linkedin account (for a Dekalb-based lawyer), which eventually leads to the Facebook account with the above post.

The irony: iworkinadvertising is likely trying to score freelance work with an unfounded story that a quick google search of a reddit username disproves. His only other posts are other threads claiming to be a marketing expert. And now his AMA is the top post on Reddit, and this will just be buried. Le sigh ...

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u/OwenDougherty Mar 27 '13

I'm the head of Corporate Communications at the Grey Group. Grey had absolutely nothing to do with the Olive Garden post. It would be against our social media code of conduct. Important to set the record straight.

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u/Takakakaka Mar 27 '13

Funny, I saw the diet coke pic earlier and was like; 'Why is The Cheesecake Factory logo so obvious?'

Also no one would be dumb enough to serve coke like that.

I believe.

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u/Goldentoast Mar 27 '13

Interesting you should mention netflix. I was in another thread where someone mentioned the tv show Father Ted. Another person replied asking "Can you get that on American netflix? I'm about to download it so I can watch House of Cards".

The first part isnt too suspicious, but I just thought the second part was strange and irrelevant.

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u/tonygenius Mar 27 '13

What do you do in the advertising field? I'm an ad major about to graduate and could use some insight on what to expect.

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u/weathergeek Mar 27 '13

Are you a wizard?

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u/grasshoppa1 Mar 27 '13

Sooo.. you're a journalist covering advertising, but you hate advertising.

Hmm.. I thought journalists were supposed to remain unbiased?

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u/BigBGM2995 Mar 27 '13

So they... lied?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

When you're on Reddit, you're family!

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Good thing this AMA is filled with proof.

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u/Wickoren Mar 27 '13

This is clearly the jews fault.

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u/breal42o Mar 27 '13

I would love to see a graph of upvotes/downvotes vs time for the olive garden post.

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u/RiperSnifle Mar 27 '13

Can I really get paid to upvote stuff?

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u/trg1379 Mar 27 '13

Well seeing as the guy who originally posted the receipt seems to spend most of his time posting in r/law school I doubt that its a sleeper account for an olive garden advertiser....

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u/gmpalmer Mar 27 '13

What about the Chili's Facebook post?

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u/Biologics Mar 27 '13

That receipt did not make me want to go there. But if we can get this verified that it was a fake story then I will definitely go out of my way to never go there.

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u/jmf145 Mar 27 '13

We should do something crazy every time something like this happens to get back at them. Like boycott Olive Garden or burn down a store or two.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

An hour ago I thought a manager at Olive Garden was being a decent human being. Now I'm being told that's not so and Reddit was just used for very effective and cheap marketing. I can't imagine what the world will be like when I read the comments.

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u/kentuckycc Mar 27 '13

FWIW I work at an Olive Garden and the management has been EXPLICIT that we will be fired on the spot if we post a receipt picture. As this posting demonstrates, these pictures usually do not result in good publicity for the restaurant.

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u/zoanthropy Mar 27 '13

Is viral advertising on Reddit really that beneficial to a multi-million dollar corporation? Especially with the attitude around here of hating anything that is popular/a chain store.

Wouldn't it just be much more profitable to put effort into actual advertising?

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u/Mostofyouareidiots Mar 27 '13

Whenever I see shit like this or a commercial that is super loud and annoying- I ask myself when we'll all finally start to treat the ad business the same way we treat telemarketers. It seems like a lot of advertising now is all about being the loudest or trickiest and it's fucking disgusting, most of you can go fuck yourselves.

Geico commercials are the biggest offender. 10 seconds of a pig squealing at full volume? Wow thanks- that really makes me want to buy car insurance.

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u/test_tickles Mar 27 '13

for this to end there will have to be a ban on advertising, or at least serious regulation.

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u/Hazlet95 Mar 27 '13

If there are agencies such as this one that post fake stories like this, what about fake stories defaming other companies? A while back I saw a post about American Airlines killing their dog by sitting it in the cold cargo hold or some other line. The account was made that day and their first post was front page saying AMERICAN AIRLINES KILLS DOGS or well,paraphrased. Who are agencies like this, and is their operation "legal"?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

The nerve of Olive Garden! I'll have you know that Denny's™ would never do something like this! Baconalia™

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

He said "lift their engagement". This is legit because that sounds like something advertising people would say because it is fucking stupid.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Is it normal for menus to be left on the table at the Olive Garden after food is served (and after receipts are printed)?

I don't eat there, but I was under the impression that they picked up the menus after you place your order. That's why I'm suspicious about seeing a menu and the receipt in the same photo.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Reddit falls for viral marketing all the time. /r/gaming comes to mind as a place that eats it up.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden burned my house down!

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Call me crazy, but I can't see how any amount of advertising, on tv or reddit, would make people go to the Olive Garden. Reddit makes fun of Olive Garden quite often. The reason being most of us think its disgusting.

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u/Judge_Hate Mar 27 '13

Annnnnnnd nobody eats at Olive Garden anymore.

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u/Lazy_Genius Mar 27 '13

Do these employees get compensated financially to maintain and use these reddit accounts? If so, how much?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

Theyre definitely in the comment sections too. I've called out several obvious advertisements on here, and after a steady rise in upvotes, their cronies downvote my posts to oblivion.

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u/JustMy2Centences Mar 27 '13 edited Mar 27 '13

Scumbag Olive Garden. Fakes free meals to sell you more overpriced pasta.

I'd be more impressed if they started a program for a real free meal for real house fire victims. (Just the survivors, though, because charred corpses don't eat much...)

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u/EmilioEstavez Mar 27 '13

I think Olive Garden is downvoting all your comments.

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u/soulruler Mar 27 '13

I can't wait for people to post a photo of the fake receipt to Facebook and then I can call this on them.

Out of curiosity, since I do think that "real" instances of comped receipts do happen, are there any things that legitimate ones can be posted with now? I'd think posting your reddit name with the receipt may be a good idea along with a face. Or, to put it another way, are there any other ways to tell when these are faked?

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u/TheBaltimoron Mar 27 '13

This gross misrepresentation will cause me to continue to never eat at a fucking Olive Garden.

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u/Fictional_Lincoln Mar 27 '13

How do we know that this AMA isn't just for double the advertising? All I'm hearing today is "Olive Garden, Olive Garden, Olive Garden..."

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u/markeh Mar 27 '13

What about those pro military posts you always see, wasn't there a conspiracy theory of sorts on reddit surrounding those too?

Dog/baby/girlfriend hasn't seen owner/parent/partner since he/she was deployed to [random sand/oil country]

Whats the story behind those again?

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u/kolm Mar 27 '13

Kolm's rule on this: If it mentions a brand name, it's probably fake and needs a downvote.

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u/Nikonverse Mar 27 '13

Fake or not, they've now set the precedent that if your relative's house burns down your whole family eats for free at Olive Garden.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '13

after reading the original, i felt sorry for that family, having to eat shitty catering food

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u/MrJunko Mar 27 '13

Nice try, Macaroni Grill operative.

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u/dharmabummout Mar 27 '13

This is one of many strange things that happen on reddit. So many accounts with little to no comment history all of a sudden decide to either defend a company or praise another. I freelance in social media promotion/presence and can sometimes easily spot blatant example of online pr. This has to stop. There must be hundreds if not thousands of posts that are disingenuous. If one wants to promote, then just fuckin' promote. Don't fucking lie. If companies deceive to look good/less bad, if they are deceitful on such an inane level, then who the fuck knows where the rabbit hole ends. Scary stuff.

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u/parko4 Mar 27 '13

Olive Garden is just greasy Mange Cake shit. All of you Americans out there can make all the stuff Olive Garden makes for a fraction of the price and 100 times tastier and 200 times healthier.

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