BrandMurder

First and foremost, we’d like to thank everyone who’s participated in the contest these last few weeks. It’s been a learning experience for us and we appreciate everyone who signed up and had fun with us. That being said, we’d also like to reassure everyone that we did the best we could to try and stem cheating. While we’d like to apologize for not foreseeing every possible eventuality as far as ways people could potentially exploit the system, we don’t feel sorry for trying to provide something fun for everyone, and we don’t speak for those people who decided to take it upon themselves to try and spoil everyone’s fun. We do, however, have no hesitation in showing you guys some of the nefarious efforts that were at work while you guys tried to have some good clean competition.

There was this guy:

He had the idea of trading YouTube subscriptions for votes. Not terribly fair. And if it was fair, why did he feel the need to set up a front so we couldn’t track where the votes were coming from?

And this guy:

He was paying people to vote for him. Yeah, this is the type of stuff we had to deal with.

Then we had plenty of folks who were simply manipulating their IP address and making fake accounts to run up the votes themselves.

You can enter any of those IP addresses here to see that they are either proxy or spam: http://stopforumspam.com/search

We’ll let the community do with these what they will. We like to think you guys will chase them to a windmill with flaming torches and pitchforks and then set the windmill on fire.

Again, we tried the best we could to implement deterrents for this sort of thing, but if Major League Baseball has taught us anything, cheaters are going to cheat no matter what you do. You guys like baseball, right? Good. Those guys are all cheaters.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.

News spread like wildfire around the globe today about the death of world famous brand Joseph Michael Pepsi. Reports began to trickle in from online celebrity news outlets in the late morning hours of Pepsi being rushed to the hospital for apparent cardiac arrest due to complications from an unsuccessful plastic surgery procedure. Pepsi’s family later confirmed that the troubled brand had indeed passed away.

News of Pepsi’s death sparked an outpouring of support from fans across the world and nearly brought the Internet to a standstill as it spread through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Many fans have come together to celebrate the brand’s life through everything from impromptu tributes in the streets to an increase in sales of Pepsi products. Tragically, Pepsi’s contribution to the world had been largely uncelebrated in recent years because of his increasingly bizarre appearance and lifestyle, which made many forget why the troubled superstar had grown to such fame in the first place.  As a result of this — in addition to legal and financial troubles — Pepsi had become somewhat of a punch-line in the design community and in the media.

The mobile technology world is in disarray today as word spreads that two of the industry’s biggest players are dead. Attractive aluminum and pretention supplier, Steven Apple, and his wife, mobile communications spaz Jane AT&T, were found dead in their really staticy but fashionable home late last night.

Certain sources within the industry have come forward with stories depicting a marriage in crisis leading up to their untimely passing. Apple had been seen cavorting with other carriers in recent months at late-night hot spots and many had speculated that he might leave AT&T to search for a new mother for his rightful heir, iPhone.

Friends of the couple say that these rumors may have driven AT&T to the verge of frenzy, as it has been reported by a wellness facility she recently attended that up to 43% of AT&T’s happiness is tied to Apple and iPhone. Kendra Perkins, a psychiatric therapist at the wellness facility, which asked to remain nameless, painted a bleak picture for the family.