[wordup] Sony/Columbia Pictures manufacturers critic

[Adam Shand]

Sorry I'm digging into older stuff that's I've had queued up for a while,
some of you may have already seen this.

Adam.

From: The Eristocracy <Eristocracy at merrymeet.com>

[Editor's note: Sony isn't shocked that this would be going on, they're
"horrified." But one Sony person said, "If he doesn't exist, he should at
least have given us a better quote." Of course, they've promised to "take
appropriate action." Let's hope the Ridgefield Press takes appropriate
action, too. -- jdcc]

URL: http://www.msnbc.com/news/581770.asp

[excerpt]

June 2 - David Manning of The Ridgefield Press is one of Columbia
Pictures' most reliable reviewers, praising Heath Ledger of "A Knight's
Tale" as "this year's hottest new star!" and saluting "The Animal" as
"another winner!" The studio plastered Manning's raves over at least four
different movie advertisements, including "Hollow Man" and "Vertical
Limit." But Manning's own life story should be called "Charade," because
he doesn't exist. Challenged last week by NEWSWEEK about the reviewer's
authenticity, Columbia parent Sony Pictures Entertainment admitted that
Manning is a fake, a product of the studio's advertising department.

The Ridgefield Press (which was unaware of the deception) is a small
Connecticut weekly, but that's where any verisimilitude ends. An
unidentified Sony employee apparently concocted the Manning persona last
July, using the name of a friend, and attributed fictional reviews to him.
Supervisors using the quotes in movie ads didn't question Manning's
legitimacy. "It was an incredibly foolish decision, and we're horrified,"
Sony spokeswoman Susan Tick said of the hoax. "We are looking into it and
will take appropriate action."

...