Linden Lab's new chief marketing officer.

[Codex Alpha]

30 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

That was after they pivoted - At the start they seemed to be hoping it would just organically take off with showcase museum builds leading the way. A few SL users pottered on over and set up shop & built locations, but without people, it was all for nothing.

and you built .. and no one came, repeating the hard learnt lessons of almost two decades of SL users before you.

A location isn't an answer to the question - Why should I participate here.

A popular location isn't ever popular because of the location, it's popular because of the people at that location. If you can't get them to come to your build, maybe you needed a CMO.

No it isn't.

No one is in SL for land ownership model or finical systems. We are here for each other. We are here because the social tools enable us to be here, everything else is just window dressing.

Engaging content is the backdrop upon which our social interactions play out. Nothing more.

Sure, we have different opinions on the matter, when it is a mix of everything.

I was building and other political issues started coming into play that overshadowed and even discouraged further investment. Unlike here where we can go back and forth within reason without fear of being banned "for monopolizing the chat", all of that counts to scaring potential users off. The fact is they had users, and many were exploring it and leaving right after for issues that most will simply not want to admit. So we'll have to agree to disagree.

You are also right and I can understand too. I always commented about what a waste it was of a world that people would spend so much time building it, yet in practical use, most people just stood around in a 4m square space and chatted anyway. Oh well, I don't have all the answers.. I just see what is happening on other platforms and what drives it, and I'm not so sure why people here are blind to it.. Of course 'build it and they will come" seems to work there.. Roblox is full of games and experiences so why would it not apply to Sansar and SL? The only thing that's different is WHO is running these platforms and why can't they capture what Roblox does? Is it really marketing?

I can only speak for myself and my group of unwanted players and how our experience was soured by issues not related to the platform. Unlike SL where most of the complaints or reasons why they don't join me here is related to lag, heavy computer usage, etc. For the other platform is was more of political issues, the feeling that they couldn't just speak and relax, and the weird feeling of having staff being like parents always watching, always present, etc. That may not be  your experience, but I'm only offering reasons from my experience why a portion is not there and why. The weird thing is many of them are now on VRChat (which I can't stand lol) - and the main reason? Freedom to speak and express themselves. Strange huh. "We dont' get in trouble here and we  don't have people reporting us all the time"

I think what we do agree upon, even though we are probably on different sides of the fence on some views, is that we want a cool place to hang our hat, build and welcome users of all types.

This new CMO talks real big, yeah yeah yeah we heard it before, and he thinks he can take on Roblox and Meta with an old platform and engine,and mesh format heee hee hee heee heheehe heehe ahhaha hahahaha.... Can't market a brand new platform with all the bells and whistles and  modern workflows but can with an older one?

[diamond Marchant]

On www.lindenlab.com they list the management team in this order...

Quote

Executive Chairman (aka CEO+)
CFO/CEO Tilia
Chief of Staff
Chief Compliance Officer
Chief People Officer
CTO, Tilia
VP Product, Second Life
VP Product Operations, Second Life
VP, Engineering
General Counsel

Second Life (and engineering and legal) are at the bottom. I sympathize with the lawyer.

On www.tilia.io the first thing you read is...

Quote

Tilia enables publishers of video games and virtual worlds to create in-world economies and monetize user interaction

Tilia is the trusted solution for leading and innovative gaming, VR & virtual world platforms such as Second Life, Sansar and Upland

We know about Second Life and Sansar. What is Upland?

On www.upland.me the first thing they say is...

Quote

Join the brand new NFT metaverse that is mapped to the real world and quickly becoming the largest and most dynamic blockchain-based economy in existence. Buy, sell and trade virtual properties mapped to real addresses. Build your dream house, start a virtual business and earn UPX coins or U.S. dollars by selling your NFT properties in a free and open marketplace. Make friends in Upland, make friends for life.

Any thoughts?

[Drayke Newall]

4 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

The Blue Fairy ad, which to me ranks right up there with the performances of the Bee Girl, won LL industry awards. And that's what counts with them. The jury of their peers.

It may have won them industry awards but the ad itself failed to do what it was supposed to do. That is for new users to come and stick around.

Effective marketing can slowly (or brutally) take away customers from competitors. The new CMO in his interviews as highlighted Roblox and Fortnite as a competitor. This is easy with comparative advertising.

LL could easily create an ad that plays on Roblox's blocky cartoony nature and lack of user created content vs SL's realistic world, avatars and extensive customisation. To show Roblox users SL is better (after LL fix performance and streamlines changing appearance) and non roblox players interested in the metaverse that there is already a RL looking metaverse out there.

For example: The ad starts with a person playing Roblox (or a non descriptive look alike) where his avatar and scene is cartoony, blocky and not having many options to select for their avatar customisation. Then from there either have it so that the avatar and environment slowly changes to a realistic looking SL scene and avatar (like the old B&W to Colour TV change) with the roblox avatar trying to run away from it or embrace it or, have it so that he starts to see glitches in the game of a 'grass is greener on the other side' aspect.

Even could have it where the avatar in Roblox starts breaking down a wall trying to get through to see the better (Second Life) world. Though this breaking down a wall would work better as a Fortnite ad as pickaxing the world for things is part of the Frotnite game.

There are lots of ways effective marketing like the above that can draw in users. LL however are focused on the wrong type of advertising.

That said, they need to focus on improving performance so that people dont lag with 50 avatars in close proximity on the region and also improve the viewer to being more user friendly and make new user experience retention systems that are not just a tutorial.

[Prokofy Neva]

2 hours ago, Drayke Newall said:

It may have won them industry awards but the ad itself failed to do what it was supposed to do. That is for new users to come and stick around.

Effective marketing can slowly (or brutally) take away customers from competitors. The new CMO in his interviews as highlighted Roblox and Fortnite as a competitor. This is easy with comparative advertising.

LL could easily create an ad that plays on Roblox's blocky cartoony nature and lack of user created content vs SL's realistic world, avatars and extensive customisation. To show Roblox users SL is better (after LL fix performance and streamlines changing appearance) and non roblox players interested in the metaverse that there is already a RL looking metaverse out there.

For example: The ad starts with a person playing Roblox (or a non descriptive look alike) where his avatar and scene is cartoony, blocky and not having many options to select for their avatar customisation. Then from there either have it so that the avatar and environment slowly changes to a realistic looking SL scene and avatar (like the old B&W to Colour TV change) with the roblox avatar trying to run away from it or embrace it or, have it so that he starts to see glitches in the game of a 'grass is greener on the other side' aspect.

Even could have it where the avatar in Roblox starts breaking down a wall trying to get through to see the better (Second Life) world. Though this breaking down a wall would work better as a Fortnite ad as pickaxing the world for things is part of the Frotnite game.

There are lots of ways effective marketing like the above that can draw in users. LL however are focused on the wrong type of advertising.

That said, they need to focus on improving performance so that people dont lag with 50 avatars in close proximity on the region and also improve the viewer to being more user friendly and make new user experience retention systems that are not just a tutorial.

Negative advertising against another company breaks a certain rule of advertising that many companies follow. They don't do it because it invites invidious comparisons and sparks backlash. There isn't a use case really for something most people want to do with 50 avatars that also requires no lag. To watch live music or a ballet performance or a film screening all require you merely to sit in your seat. BTW recently I was on Fantasy Faire hunt sims with 50 people and it wasn't laggy, they lay on more robust servers for events. Few individuals and even fewer companies need an always on event sim with no-lag 50 avatar capacity. Even shopping can be done by camming.

[animats]

3 hours ago, diamond Marchant said:

What is Upland?

One of those NFT things. You pay real money to get a parcel marked as yours on their maps of real cities. It's like Monopoly, with a big board and real money. See "upland.me" if interested.

3 hours ago, Drayke Newall said:

LL could easily create an ad that plays on Roblox's blocky cartoony nature and lack of user created content vs SL's realistic world, avatars and extensive customisation.

Roblox is way past that.  They haven't been standing still. A year ago, Second Life was the leader in layered clothing for virtual worlds. Now, Roblox, MetaTailor, and Ready Player Me all have technologies where you can mix and match user-created clothing items and have them fit. Without "alphas" or "size sliders".

[Akane Nacht]

8 hours ago, Codex Alpha said:

I always commented about what a waste it was of a world that people would spend so much time building it, yet in practical use, most people just stood around in a 4m square space and chatted anyway.

I wouldn't call it a waste. I've got several friends who rebuild their islands on a regular basis, sometimes only for a week or two, then they flatten it and start again. It's like making sandcastles at the beach. If I could afford it I'd probaby do the same.

[Drayke Newall]

2 hours ago, animats said:

Roblox is way past that.  They haven't been standing still. A year ago, Second Life was the leader in layered clothing for virtual worlds. Now, Roblox, MetaTailor, and Ready Player Me all have technologies where you can mix and match user-created clothing items and have them fit. Without "alphas" or "size sliders".

It doesn't matter if Roblox is past that. They are very cartoony avatars still and dont compete with SL's more realistic ones.

As to a layered clothing system it is something that would be easy for LL to implement as all those systems do is have an inner and outer layer which are collision layers. Basically, when the clothing is worn the inner collision layer is pushed out wrapping around the previously added outer collision clothing or body layer.

The trouble with such a system is it is akin to Second Life's onion bodies where the mesh and textures still exist under the visible outer clothing layer. This means that the more you add the more complex your avatar gets and the more lag it creates. Roblox and the others you mentioned can get around this as their avatars are not realistic looking and have simple geometry. They also dont offer anywhere near the same customisation Second Life offers for its avatars.

Roblox offers hardly any character customisation at all with only basic customisations like height, width, hair type, eyes colour, skin colour, etc.

As to complexity, take Roblox or example, this pic below is Roblox's latest Rthro (akin to SL's Ruth) avatar still very blocky in nature:

You cannot compare Second Life's avatars and customisation to such basic avatar systems. Nor can you compare a layered clothing system that we already know in SL creates lag eventually due to SL bodies being far more realistic and customisable.

Linden Lab would be far better off creating a system where, yes it does wrap around collision layers but also hides (doesn't render - occludes) anything that is hidden. For example the collision layer is also an occlusion plane that simply de-renders anything behind it on the avatar.

With such a system you wouldn't need alpha cut bodies anymore as, the clothing with the occlusion plane in it would make the layer under it not render at all by the viewer until the clothing item is removed or you look at it from a certain angle. Materials for BoM and expanded BoM segments would be good as well.

Those 3 things; wrapping and occlusion mesh clothing as well as Materials for BoM and more BoM segments would allow avatars to render at minimal render cost and remove the need for alpha cuts entirely whilst lowering the render cost of an avatar. Of course such an occlusion system would be very complex.

As far as optimisation for the region goes, add actual occlusion culling to the environment i.e. everything behind your avatar/camera is culled entirely and only what you see in front of your camera is rendered. This would solve the lag when to many people are on the region as the viewer is only ever rendering the avatars you can actually see.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Drayke Newall

[Caroline Takeda]

According to his LinkedIn profile, he did quit a bit of job hopping in the last 20 years. Especially the last 5 years do not look like a hot shot marketing guy. 

I wonder if Linden Lab is yet another 2-3 years interim job to him.

Damn, I should have sent my cv lol

Edited May 20, 2022 by Caroline Takeda

[Paulsian]

12 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

Negative advertising against another company breaks a certain rule of advertising that many companies follow. They don't do it because it invites invidious comparisons and sparks backlash. There isn't a use case really for something most people want to do with 50 avatars that also requires no lag. To watch live music or a ballet performance or a film screening all require you merely to sit in your seat. BTW recently I was on Fantasy Faire hunt sims with 50 people and it wasn't laggy, they lay on more robust servers for events. Few individuals and even fewer companies need an always on event sim with no-lag 50 avatar capacity. Even shopping can be done by camming.

when drayke described his vision I pictured the photo we all have in our inventory think its called evolution. starts with blocky avatar and progresses throuh the evolution of sl's avatar evolution.

kinda does the roblox ad concept passivly without mentioning any specific organization, it would be okay to market the cons of another company but there can not be any slander, negatives have to be truthful and backed up with factuals. 

[Codex Alpha]

The biggest draw for Roblox is of course creating worlds, but more so playing all the games that people make - it's huge business. Then of course the ability to sell one's creations in a limited capacity or other, and the promise that users can join the successful ones making big $$$.

To lure them to SL would be to provide them the same tools and ability, and ease of such - and I'm not sure if that can really happen. Also, Roblox uses LUA which is a scripting language that at least once they learn they can use everywhere.

This is important to me as well, although once one understands programming concepts and such they can move to other languages - it's important to me to be applying my time in say C# (which Sansar supports, but the interface to the world and updating scripts was intolerable and slow - needed to render an entire scene: miss a semicolon and you're wasting a lot of time), where C# can be used elsewhere.

They are also a very much younger crowd, and would really need to see the benefits (and coolness) of coming to SL - but word on the street is SL is for fuddy duddies. It only makes it worse if they come and explore and get told 'get off my lawn!" within minutes, or scolded inworld just for being their precious little young naive selves, fooling around - and grandpa getting mad at them

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I've never played Roblox, so forgive my ignorance on this, but looking at it (on Youtube, Twitch, etc.), I can't for the life of me see why players would even be interested in SL in the first place. They just don't seem anything alike to me.

Does Roblox have land to purchase/rent? I assume you can build homes n things. Are there clubs and bars and lounges and DJs? I know you can run a shop, but does all that function the way it does here (where customers come in, buy, can get gifts, there are store hunts, sales, major shopping events and themed faires, etc. etc.). Are there groups to join? I won't even get into the more art/design-related SL hobbies like landscape/avatar photography, machinima, interior design, or building complex in-world art installations and galleries. Can you spend 4348123 hours tweaking your avatars like I do? Can you obsess over your avie's manicure and finding the perfect guyliner? 😆 Do you build inside the platform or do you use 3D software?

I've honestly only seen a few gaming sessions where people played multiplayer games built inside Roblox - like Squid Game type things, back when that was popular. So my experience there is very limited.

Btw, nobody has to really answer any of these questions or anything. I'm aware it's a bit off-topic anyway, plus I could always just Google. I'm just thinking out loud - don't mind me! I just always find myself wondering why the two platforms are compared so often. And why SL would market to Roblox players at all. Roblox always seemed more Minecrafty to me, which isn't at all a bad thing - I love Minecraft, too!

[Paulsian]

2 hours ago, Codex Alpha said:

The biggest draw for Roblox is of course creating worlds, but more so playing all the games that people make - it's huge business. Then of course the ability to sell one's creations in a limited capacity or other, and the promise that users can join the successful ones making big $$$.

To lure them to SL would be to provide them the same tools and ability, and ease of such - and I'm not sure if that can really happen. Also, Roblox uses LUA which is a scripting language that at least once they learn they can use everywhere.

This is important to me as well, although once one understands programming concepts and such they can move to other languages - it's important to me to be applying my time in say C# (which Sansar supports, but the interface to the world and updating scripts was intolerable and slow - needed to render an entire scene: miss a semicolon and you're wasting a lot of time), where C# can be used elsewhere.

They are also a very much younger crowd, and would really need to see the benefits (and coolness) of coming to SL - but word on the street is SL is for fuddy duddies. It only makes it worse if they come and explore and get told 'get off my lawn!" within minutes, or scolded inworld just for being their precious little young naive selves, fooling around - and grandpa getting mad at them

roblox is a gateway to second life as has been mentioned in recent interviews, for ll they do not want to agressivly pursue away from others like roblox, ll foresees roblox users to evolve and passivly want to do so in second life. neat cycle.

got marketing slogan. it's your imagination, use it.

roblox just a community just like second life is in many ways. 

the product should always sell itself.

[Codex Alpha]

Unless they make some serious changes to the SL platform, and make it fit and ready for 2022 and beyond - (they would have had more chance competing with their Sansar platform) - they're not going to be much of a challenge to Roblox and Fortnite, who are today on the cutting edge of technology, and already have millions of GAMERS on their side right now - something SL doesn't seem to want here at all.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Codex Alpha

[Paulsian]

i respectfully disagree, once you have found and learned from the best there's no going back to anything else. Second Life in my opinion is the greatest virtual platform there was, is, and ever will be. 

 

[Paulsian]

they are making changes should allow them time to show us their imagination of their world and we should learn to recognize and appreciate it a little more when they do. Ive noticed a few easter eggs with marketing I can kinda see where they might be going but I will leave it to them to suprise me when they are ready.

[Paulsian]

Like KFCs (that's kentucky fried chicken(did not spell it out because of the whole not being allowed to use the word chicken because those creatures could not be legally considered chicken)...) Second Life has those secret 11 spices that make it oh so good. 

[Codex Alpha]

41 minutes ago, Paulsian said:

i respectfully disagree, once you have found and learned from the best there's no going back to anything else. Second Life in my opinion is the greatest virtual platform there was, is, and ever will be. 

 

I can agree with you on that point, but it also doesn't negate what I said, or offer a counterargument that gamers (who populate those other platforms in the millions) would want to or be able to transition over to SL with existing structures.

32 minutes ago, Paulsian said:

they are making changes should allow them time to show us their imagination of their world and we should learn to recognize and appreciate it a little more when they do. Ive noticed a few easter eggs with marketing I can kinda see where they might be going but I will leave it to them to suprise me when they are ready.

Sure and continuance of my reply above I could be wrong or ignorant of such things. I am completely open to any technology and education that would empower me to use SL to it's fullest. I'm also just reporting my own experiences from my gaming history and network, and some younger generations in my network who look at Roblox and Fortnite one way, and look at SL another way (Because they see me on it) and they tell me. I am NOT the full story and I recognize that, but I have to put my experience in for consideration.

[Codex Alpha]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:34 PM, animats said:

Fantasy Faire is an example of how good it can be. That's a labor of love by hundreds of people, though.

Working with organizations that don't get SL hasn't been too successful. Look at Zenescope. That was an LL project. Everything was built by moles. Mostly from off the shelf parts. It's boring. I did the quests, the miniature golf course, and the maze. At the end, there's a teleport gate and "come back later for Part 2". That was months ago, and there's still no Part 2.

Zenescope, the comic publisher. has some cool artwork and themes that would translate well to SL. But that's not what they brought into SL. Their merch is mostly T-shirts. Their game is pointless. Zenescope characters are absent. There's no point.

I searched for Zenoscope yesterday and it led me to an empty place, but in my flyings around I came across the actual event place that you described, and yeah... sorry it was real bad. Could not and would not complete the quests..

Even if the structure was more exciting than just 'click on the symbols' (the same technique was used in Sansar, hopefully not the same person, even complete with golf course level), the story was just horrible.

"Mary has taken off with the Zenoscope merch! How can we get merch if she is taken it! Follow the clues and see if you can find the merch!" Huh what? Holy cow boring. Yes brutally blunt , but we could use more of that around here.

This is better (maybe)

-------------------

Farmer McWhiskers can't sleep. He needs to til his fields and be ready to plant in time so that he can have a good harvest.. However, there is a group of squirrels in a nearby forest constantly making banging and clanging sounds out there, like they're trying to build something. He has noted that only in the last few days, there seems to be some radio-looking structure starting to rise above the trees - and he can frequently see little shapes bouncing and moving at it's pinnacle especially at sunset when he can see the silhouettes. He would like you to investigate, and if you succeed in finding the source and putting a stop to it, he would surely reward you with [insert $L amount] + [useful mesh item].

It looks like the forest is getting dark, it's probably not the best to go in until you can get to a higher point to observe.. You climb a path up towards a look out....
"Excuse me!" says something. You look around, who said that "Excuse me, you are in my way!". It seems to be coming from a large rock who seems to be blocking the path. "You are in my way good sir, and I would ask that you move to the side!" Being polite,  you move to the side.
"Hmm, I cant seem to move, I had a good roll going down this hill before you interrupted me, after all I did not want to hit you, but now I seem to have lost my momentum and I am on the flattest side of myself! Yes I should be in better shape, but it has been such a long time since I had a good roll, I must admit I have squared off since the last time. Please find something that you could use to perhaps lift me up, a lever of sorts, to help me get rolling again!"

[Find stick, find rock, put them together to create a lever, and insert stick below Robby The Rock]

"All right then, help me please!" With a great grunt you lever Robby and he begins to roll. As he picks up speed he says "thank you kind sir! Wheee ! I'm really speeding up this time! Make way! make way or be flattened hahah haha! Thank you sir, now beware the fairy at the top of the hill he likes to play tricks on people at the lookout! Now away! Wheeeeee"

Up the path to the lookout. As the sun is waning and at this distance you can make out a lot of tree tops some with spindly points where the branches finally give way to the sky.... it's a good height from here to clear the forest and get a good view of what the Squirrels may be doing, if only one had a telescope or some good glasses... [ You see a viewing telescope at the crest of the hill at the lookout]
You look through it, but it is empty. There is nothing there, just an empty tube. Well this is no help at all.

"Heee hee! Looking for something?" You hear...

--------------

See? A main goal, you can see, you know about, but there are obstacles in the way and interesting side quests or prerequisites, and a good story.

Hey I didn't say it was good, but I could go on, but that's for me to use  in future projects.

Better than "huh find the merch!" "Find the glowy things!"

THEN You have engagement, immersion, interest and people will most likely want to see what's next, and maybe tell their friends to play it..

Zenoscope. Sorry no. I hope they can do better.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Codex Alpha

[Prokofy Neva]

6 hours ago, Codex Alpha said:

The biggest draw for Roblox is of course creating worlds, but more so playing all the games that people make - it's huge business. Then of course the ability to sell one's creations in a limited capacity or other, and the promise that users can join the successful ones making big $$$.

To lure them to SL would be to provide them the same tools and ability, and ease of such - and I'm not sure if that can really happen. Also, Roblox uses LUA which is a scripting language that at least once they learn they can use everywhere.

This is important to me as well, although once one understands programming concepts and such they can move to other languages - it's important to me to be applying my time in say C# (which Sansar supports, but the interface to the world and updating scripts was intolerable and slow - needed to render an entire scene: miss a semicolon and you're wasting a lot of time), where C# can be used elsewhere.

They are also a very much younger crowd, and would really need to see the benefits (and coolness) of coming to SL - but word on the street is SL is for fuddy duddies. It only makes it worse if they come and explore and get told 'get off my lawn!" within minutes, or scolded inworld just for being their precious little young naive selves, fooling around - and grandpa getting mad at them

Then they can stay in Roblox or go to other worlds. It's all good. We have lawns here. Not everything is a sandbox. 

[Paulsian]

3 hours ago, Codex Alpha said:

I can agree with you on that point, but it also doesn't negate what I said, or offer a counterargument that gamers (who populate those other platforms in the millions) would want to or be able to transition over to SL with existing structures.

I can agree with structure too. a die hard sims player was very interested in considering tinkering in secondlife if they offered (im not lieing its not just me) locally hosted private grids (could just be 1 region worth). In the end people will find their own place to chill out and learn new things.

[junique Tigerfish]

Might have been the ice cream man.No sorry,wait that was Dickie Dee.

[Paulsian]

3 hours ago, Codex Alpha said:

Sure and continuance of my reply above I could be wrong or ignorant of such things. I am completely open to any technology and education that would empower me to use SL to it's fullest. I'm also just reporting my own experiences from my gaming history and network, and some younger generations in my network who look at Roblox and Fortnite one way, and look at SL another way (Because they see me on it) and they tell me. I am NOT the full story and I recognize that, but I have to put my experience in for consideration.

anyone attmepting to enter this world and not get chewed up and spit out and set on fire better have a tough heart and above average patience, I was someone who used to expect everything to be optimal learning this was out of the question. most of us who have come this far has probably lost count of their hero journeys.

[junique Tigerfish]

On 5/17/2022 at 11:30 AM, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

Why am I thinking of "Attention K-Mart shoppers --- we have a Blue Light special in the Prim Department!"

Lol too funny.People would follow that wooden box with the light on top.Attention K-mart shoppers...

[diamond Marchant]

On 5/19/2022 at 1:18 PM, Prokofy Neva said:

Blue Fairy ad

Is the blue fairy ad the photo on the start page of www.secondlife.com or something else? I have always thought that photo was not a good choice (no issue with the fairy, just think it is a poor image).

Here are some better ones 🙂

Edited May 21, 2022 by diamond Marchant

[Drayke Newall]

2 hours ago, diamond Marchant said:

Is the blue fairy ad the photo on the start page of www.secondlife.com or something else? I have always thought that photo was not a good choice (no issue with the fairy, just think it is a poor image).

Here are some better ones 🙂

Yes the Blue Fairy ad is the one on the SL home page. A thread was made when it was released with the majority stating that LL should have used actual inworld images like those you posted. The ad that LL came up with didnt show any form of what SL was and looked more to advertise a lie than reality.