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May 10, 2000 | Where once the Chiquita logo had reigned supreme, a dot-com was now hawking its wares. Is there not enough ad space in the bulging Net business magazines or on TV? Personally, I loathe banana pudding and wouldn't make it even if I could find a recipe for it with the click of a mouse. But Ask.com, a search engine on a spending frenzy, has other marketing strategies for tough nuts like me. Last month, the site sent me free tickets to an Elvis Costello concert -- which, much like the banana, was not merely an evening with a grizzled crooner, but a marketing extravaganza for Ask.com. This company that uses bananas and rock stars as marketing gimmicks is the same company that, last Thanksgiving, plopped its main company icon -- Jeeves, the butler -- on a float and sent him marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What would Jeeves think? Would P.G. Wodehouse's flawlessly proper butler approve of Internet-mania taking over even the skin of our fruit? I guess I'll just have to ask.
- - - - - - - - - - - - Sound off Related Salon stories Fumble.com Internet companies threw millions into the air at the Super Bowl. They're still pretending they scored a touchdown. Dot-com party madness Forget about return on investment. Bay Area tech companies spend $1 million a month on food, drink and music in exchange for "buzz." Unhand that butler! Ask Jeeves and its new agent, Mike Ovitz, claim that their butler isn't Bertie Wooster's.
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