Rebels break into television broadcast networks to alert internet users it’s been abducted by a powerful force; but it’s not real. Internet-search site ask.com has generated a lot of buzz since they launched their new advertising campaign in Great Britain. Their new risky strategy is geared at halting Google’s success since it is used for 75% of all internet searches in Britain.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ask.com is trying to persuade the British that Google’s search engine is limiting by using a campaign that masks the fact that it is advertising and promoting Ask.com. The television and radio spots, outdoor ads, street stunts, and their website are formatted to look as though they are an underground movement. Take a look at this video, you can see they do not mention ask.com or Google, but simply direct people to the website, www.information-revolution.org, a site that only contains a small ask.com logo, but where people can post their opinions.

Although the majority of opinions have been complaints, ask.com feels they have nothing to lose. And online criticism has not been the only dilemma, shortly after the ads emerged, bloggers saw that searching for the word “Google” on Ask.com, brought up this quote “Don’t be a droid” use a different source of information.” and next to that quote a drawing of a man on puppet strings and a link to Ask.com’s anti-Google website. Incidentally, this link was removed.

A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on Ask.com’s campaign, but did say they support competition. The six-week campaign hopes to boost Ask.com’s profile in the United Kingdom, where it trails Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.

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