Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A missing son

Given the number of lame viral marketing attempts involving missing people, we can't help but be cynical about fliers we see in the neighborhood...these fliers went up this weekend... (A friend told me he says these in several other parts of the city....)



After doing a little research, this seems to be a genuine missing person. Here's an article on the man from the Pocono Record.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw this man's father walking around on Sunday morning about 9:30, putting up the fliers, handing them directly to people and talking to them about it. This was around 2nd Ave and 10th St. I feel terribly for the family.

EV Grieve said...

I missed have just missed the father. I took the photo here at 11 and A around 9:15, I think. And my first thought really was, "HBO series promo."

I hope the family gets some good news soon.

Anonymous said...

Your first thought is understandable, Grieve -- the missing man is very photogenic and handsome (i.e., could be an actor), the fliers are very professional looking ... and sadly, many of us have seen similar-looking viral campaigns for silly shit before, which may cause us to be doubtful or cynical when we see such fliers at first.

But your post serves two purposes: It helps spread word about Doug Lanterman's disappearance, AND it proves that these stupid viral campaigns cause otherwise thoughtful people to become indifferent or so habituated to fakeness that we (at least initially) question a missing person, missing pet, or other tragedy.

The next bunch of crap marketers to use the disingenuous "Missing" meme should think hard about WTF they are really doing. And my heart goes out to the Lantermans.

Melanie said...

I too feel bad for his father--it is sad.