Apology for hacking into 35,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly’s video CBS video ad
September 16th, 2009 . by Marty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2009
APOLOGY FOR BOTCHED STEALTH CAMPAIGN ON SARAH PALIN BOOK
Former employee hacked into 35,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly’s video ad for CBS/Pepsi
Washington, D.C. – Former McCain adviser and Senior Fellow at the Washington-based think tank, the Harding Institute for Freedom & Democracy, Martin Eisenstadt today issued a formal apology today for actions taken on his behalf by a former staff member.
“Due to some botched Twittering this morning, it has come to my attention that what was supposed to be an unauthorized ‘stealth’ campaign to promote my book has quickly come undone,” said Eisenstadt. “A former assistant of mine took it upon himself to embed my book trailer into 35,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly. Apparently the magazine had an actual video screen in last week’s issue that played ads for both CBS and Pepsi, but if you hit the right sequence of buttons, my book trailer would start to play instead. If anyone was offended by this childish prank, then I would like to sincerely apologize.”
Eisenstadt’s book, “I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans” is being published by Faber & Faber, a division of Farrar, Straus, Giroux, and goes on sale November 3. The book is considered the first tell-all campaign book about Sarah Palin, and will include such revelations as her lack of geographical knowledge and who really bought her $150,000 wardrobe.
YouTube videos showing the Eisenstadt book promo embedded into Entertainment Weekly started appearing in recent days, and former Harding Institute employee, Eli Perle (now a manager at the Hollywood production company Provocation Entertainment) took credit on Twitter for the stealth campaign.
“On behalf of all the hard-working employees of the Harding Institute, as well as everyone at Faber & Faber, I would like to express my regret to any families who may have seen the video under false pretenses. For the record, the book is not in any way yet endorsed by Entertainment Weekly, CBS or Pepsi.”
