Jane is the new Emily.

Remember Emily? The "woman" who put up a billboard about her cheating husband but it was all a CourtTV stunt for a new detective show?

The UK's got their own version, Jane (via AdFreak). Instead of a Blogger site, she's got MySpace. Poor jilted Jane has friends and comments galore-- if not for the fact that this very viral campaign was carried out a few months ago, I'd believe it a bit more. Emily never allowed comments on her site, but if Jane's friends are real, it allows a level of interaction and believability that was lacking with Emily. Why join MySpace or Blogger unless you want other people to reach out to you?

Jane's first post dates from Dec. 8th, so it looks like once again, we can follow how this story plays out and make guesses about what show or product it's secretly tied to. So far there are links to a radio station in which she had interviews or something, and a few photos of the billboard bouncing around.

(It really seems that thanks to the Internet, it's getting harder and harder to recycle ideas as fresh.)

Follow-up: "That Girl Emily"

Or should we say "That Hoax Emily?" Still not sure what they're advertising or marketing, but as Wizbang points out, they've spent a bunch of money on identical billboards in NY AND LA. Not the best way to run a viral campaign in the world of blogs, rapid-fire-google research and consumer criticism.

I've pasted another photo of the same billboard on an entirely different building (this one in LA). Will, at "What is Will Thinking," had a good list of reasons of why the whole campaign was suspect from the start, all of which I heartily agree with. So, last question, what the hell are they selling? (Curbed seems to think it's something for CourtTV.)

Update: ABC News says, yeah, it's for a cable TV show.

That Girl Emily...

So, I've been looking into the shady blog of "That Girl Emily" and the billboard she commissioned about her lying cheating husband, Steve (Click the photo for an enlarged, easier to read, version). She joined Blogger in June 2006, and by July, she's discovered her husband's cheating on her and takes massive steps against him. It makes for sensationalist reading, but is it real?

Definitely not.

But what's the story behind it? Any smart gal or guy can figure out that this is some form of marketing, but what exactly are they hawking?

A number of other blogs, mainly written by women who've been through something similar, feel this Emily's pain, and wonder what the deal is. It doesn't sit right with a lot of readers, but if it is fake, it mocks a lot of real pain that couples go through when they part ways.