GreenTeaGirlie

image David Sarno at the LA Times uncovers a web of deception surrounding a recent YouTube sensation called GreenTeaGirlie.

It all started in late March when a 10-second video of a young woman introducing herself became one of the most-watched videos on YouTube. Why was this video so popular, many people wondered. After all, it wasn't very remarkable. Was she another lonelygirl15?

Soon after, two related websites appeared: greenteagirlie.com and kallieannie.com.

The first site, greenteagirlie.com, contained a link to Seattle's Dragonwater Tea Co. (promoting suspicion that GreenTeaGirlie was a marketing ploy) and later to a site called Vidstars.net, that claimed to be a marketing service using YouTube video stars to promote products.

The second site, kallieannie.com, was all about the GreenTeaGirlie, whose real name, apparently, is Kallie.

So what was going on? The LA Times reporter figured out there were two different deceptions perpetrated by different groups.

Deception One: A friend of Kallie shot the video of her and then gamed the YouTube system by creating hundreds of fake MySpace profiles that linked to her video, artificially causing it to appear on YouTube's most watched video list, bringing her to the attention of YouTube viewers who then really did begin checking out her video. The same guy helped created kallieannie.com.

Deception Two: A separate pair of pranksters took advantage of the GreenTeaGirlie phenomenon to promote a hoax of their own -- Vidstars.net. Their idea was to create a fictitious company that was supposedly using YouTube stars to promote products. They created the greenteagirlie.com site, and linked it to the Dragonwater Tea Co., as a way to make it seem as if GreenTeaGirlie was a marketing ploy. So it was a hoax within a hoax. All very complicated.

So to sum up, GreenTeaGirlie is an artificially hyped YouTube star, who has nothing to do with Vidstars.net, which is a hoax website pretending to be a company that uses YouTube stars to promote products.

Or, at least, that's the way it seems for now. Unless it's all a hoax within a hoax within a hoax, engineered as a byzantine marketing stunt for Green Tea.

For those interested, here's GreenTeaGirlie's YouTube page that lists all of her videos.

Photos Websites

Posted on Fri May 04, 2007


Comments

Is her dancing annoying or cute?
Posted by Chadds Ford Prefect  on  Fri May 04, 2007  at  12:53 PM
Where does it say she dances?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Fri May 04, 2007  at  06:42 PM
Unless your report of this story is a hoax... (what would it be then???)
Posted by Christopher  on  Sat May 05, 2007  at  08:38 AM
Here she is dancing.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Sat May 05, 2007  at  10:11 AM
The hoax is that this is come kind of promotional campaign, when it's really a competition for the most boring video ever shot.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Sun May 06, 2007  at  12:53 PM
Whoops, I meant to say "some kind of promotional campaign ..." No suggestive reference intended there (unless you want there to be).
Posted by Big Gary  on  Sun May 06, 2007  at  12:55 PM
Oh how I love me some Youtube hoaxes! It does sound a bit fake. Guess it goes with the whole LoneyGirl 15 Paradox. Cute girl talks about life and dances. I notice her "boyfriend" Dax Flame who you could say a fairly popular could have flung her into fame more which would make him fake. So she either an actress or marketing scheme.

BTW did anyone else notice how stuck on herself she is?
Posted by Bauer22  on  Sun May 06, 2007  at  10:45 PM
Cute story. Can't be bothered to watch her videos, though, except the one which lets me answer Chadd's Ford Prefect. So to CFP, the answer is: annoying. And crap, obviously. (Note: cutish-looking girl dancing annoyingly badly does not equal cute dancing.)
Posted by outeast  on  Mon May 07, 2007  at  01:00 AM
Can someone explain what the codes and stuff on her whiteboard are about?
Posted by JaySee  on  Mon May 07, 2007  at  03:46 PM
Is it just me, or are hoaxes getting more boring these days? Where's the guys who sell the Eiffel Tower, where's the Fiji Mermaids or the Bigfoot videos (if that is a hoax mwah hah hah). Where's the modern day equivalent of the Bonsai Kittens? (I've been debunking that one on various notice boards for at least 5 years). Nope, in 2007, our hoaxes are all dull people doing uninteresting stuff on Youtube.
Posted by Nona  on  Thu May 10, 2007  at  06:58 AM
@ outeast

Yeah I should have used cuteish.
Posted by Bauer22  on  Sat May 12, 2007  at  09:08 PM
More to the point . . . Does watching only the 'popular' YouTube clips cause stupidity, or does stupidity cause watching popular YouTube? 😊
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Mon Jun 04, 2007  at  10:35 PM
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