In the hours following Ocean Marketing's public shaming, the unprofessional exploits of Paul Christoforo have become the latest Internet fascination -- so much so that even insurance company Geico has gotten in on the fun.
The combined might of 4Chan, Reddit, Penny Arcade and other communities delivered vicious retribution to Christoforo. The Avenger Controller, which Ocean Marketing was representing, has been bombarded with negative reviews on Amazon, while the company's range of utterly awful Youtube videos have been swamped with dislikes and abusive comments.
Elsewhere, a website has popped up, dedicated to Christoforo's infamous "I wwebsite as on the internet" email, while one amazingly swift Youtube video has become a smash hit. Meanwhile, records of Christoforo's domestic abuse case (which he says was dropped) have started circulating the Internet, and his insincere apology to Penny Arcade seems to have only made matters worse.
Oh, and then there's the mounting evidence of plagiarism and further customer abuse that the man seems to have built his career around.
I think the most telling part of all this is how the non-gaming mother of a friend started talking about the "Ocean Marketing thing" of her own volition. The story has crossed over from a gaming story to a general consumer interest one. Don't be surprised to see mainstream news sources picking it up next.
Internet controversies move damn fast, eh? As for Paul himself? He seems to have started a new Twitter account after someone hijacked his original one (which he'd amusingly renamed "OceanStratagy"). After asking people not to call his house anymore, he announced he was taking time off. Probably for the best.
Contest:
8:00 AM on 12.28.2011 | 
Try not to take it too LITTORAL.
I think this guy now knows what it's like to feel a little vulnerable, and by the time this all blows over, he'll hopefully remember this before he treats anyone else poorly. Internet life lessons FTW.
Dec 17
My proof: Do any of you guys remember Alyssa Bereznak? Didn't think so.
I mean, how far does this have to go? Internet justice can be great and all that, but how much needs destroying before it's enough?
@Magnalon
It has before--remember The Blocks Cometh fiasco?
Everything else has been an attack on Ocean/Paul himself, but the Amazon bombs are an attack on the actual product, which has nothing to do with Paul. Considering the product head fired the ENTIRE firm, basically taking Penny Arcade's word for it, I'd say that's pretty classy.
That would have been removed by Apple regardless. It may have taken an extra week or so, but they usually catch those things.
amazing how the internet can do. look at all the evidence was posted in merely 2 days.
and someone already hijacked his account and calling his house??
the internet can be a scary place O____O
it's a good thing i don't do twitter or put any sensitive information on the net.
he deserves it, but not his family and the creators of the Avenger controller.
Forced memes are ones that people try to make catch on on purpose...hence forced. A phrase accidentally worded horribly is not a forced meme. It's just something that's going to be made fun of to the point where it becomes a meme.
Is is pedophilia or not if you like smelling applesauce that babies have eaten?
Same here. It's great that the asshole got his comeuppance for his behavior and his "professional" conduct, but there's always the point with something like this situation where it stops being about some form of righteous retribution and becomes more about petty vindictiveness and opportunism.
It's great to see a bully have a taste of his own medicine, but things like this also show just how much of a bully another person can be.
Time for some coffee, methinks.
I think this is something people justify because he decided name drops and acting like the whole world was his friend. I think the internet likes harsh realities.
And it really is one of the best forms of karmic backlash available. Mr hundreds of emails a day sure did have lots of time to banter back and forth with his vocal complaintants...
He decided name drops and acting like the whole world was his friend was a good idea...
I wish my poor wording was intentional...
J/K
sucks for n-control. their product is getting slammed because of this fiasco. but it makes me wonder who is actually in control of their shipping and who is actually selling the product? also to people buying from them. cant you get this monstrosity at local retailers from what i understand? id much rather deal with that than ordering it online and constantly being delayed.
BACKPEDAL YOUR ASS OFF, fetusmilk!
While it isn't up to me if I was the industry I would blacklist this PR firm into dust.
I do! I do! The Magic the Gathering-hating girl. I think its too bad that we forgot all about her so soon. Guess it just proves how short people's attention spans are.
"When these assholes threaten me or Penny Arcade I just laugh. I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.
-Gabe out"
Except I think she's still with that terrible faux-journalism Gawker site - you can expect that short of nonsense from them, where they allow non-professional behaivor for the sake of hits (Jesus Diaz is MUCH worse).
Paul Christoforo was straight up fired, and PR is not like shitty shock journalism - there are blacklists.
I also think this is going a bit too far, surely we should be better than this and y'know not become the bullies ourselves