And the Award For Lamest Web Marketing Attempt Goes To…

When it comes to viral marketing, you can grab people’s attention and get them interested — or grab their attention and make them groan. The iSaw, believed by many to be a real product, is giving women’s tennis a run for its money. (Paging Monica Seles…)

Sound effects aside, the iSaw certainly snagged the tech world’s attention. The device, billed as the “world’s first USB-powered chainsaw,” managed to get coverage on Engadget and numerous other gadget blogs this week. The gang at Gizmodo even went as far as to preorder one for $59.95.

Turns out, though, the iSaw is the imaginary creation of advertising agency BBH, or Bartle Bogle Hegarty (I swear I’m not making those names up). Bartle and Co. have now updated the iSaw Web site to have the following message pop-up:

You already own a chainsaw. Your keyboard.

Help save more trees by cutting down on unnecessary printing. Download PaperCut, a free application that plays the sound of a chainsaw each time you press Ctrl-P.

While we here at eSarcasm are all for saving the environment — we are an Online Porn Only Office (oPOO) ™, after all — the idea of remapping a common key sequence to make an annoying noise is about as appealing to us as a front-row seat at the latest TechCrunch conference. And using a fake product to push your silly software onto the world puts you just a tiny step behind PETA condemning a guy for swatting a fly.

So, Bartle, Bogle, and Boogledeboo, we must congratulate you. For your groan-inducing efforts, we hereby award you our prestigious and highly disregarded honor, the eSarcasm Salute. You’ve earned it, dear sirs (and/or madams). Unfortunately, we’re out of plaques at the moment, but we’ll be mailing 4,999 copies of a paper certificate to your office just as soon as our copy boy, Bigglesby, gets back from lunch.

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