‘Pherotones’ soon to control all our lives

Last week, I noticed an ad on Phillyist for Pherotones, which are — hold your breath — ringtones that are supposed to make you attractive to the opposite sex. The official Pherotones website says “Pls chk bck ltr” when you try to order them. (I’d like to state now I only clicked on “order” only for informational purposes. Also, I’m not making any of this up, although someone did email me to say it’s probably just guerilla marketing for something, and apparently it’s ad agency McKinney Silver’s campaign. For what, I don’t know.)

Then, earlier today, I started seeing Pherotones ads all over the Internet, including on Gawker, which is sort of the granddaddy of all the gossip/media/humor blogs like this one. Here’s the ad:

If you don’t know, it’s an attempt (albeit a poor one) to make the ad look like a regular Gawker post. Perhaps some of you scoff at this blending of advertisement and editorial (design-wise, at least). Me, I think it’s a start of a trend. Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. head Joe Natoli has proven he’s not opposed to doing something like this just last year, and I fully expect to see this on Philly.com tomorrow:

And, soon, my dating woes will be over.

Gawker
Pherotones
Cute Ad, Stupid Move [Citypaper]
Jan. 19, 2006: They’re called “Pherotones” (no, really)

They’re called “Pherotones” (no, really)

An ad on Phillyist:

All my problems are solved! Thanks, Phillyist!

Phillyist