Remittance leader Western Union is currently experiencing a strong backlash from the Bitcoin community, following a subvertising made by a reddit user that highlights the huge benefits of the virtual currency over the company services.
It’s a quite funny home page that is displayed on the /bitcoin subreddit at this time: dozens of heavily upvoted posts are featuring the same image, namely a subvertising of an advertisement that was originally supposed to promote the services of Western Union.
The remittance specialist offers a flat $5 fee for each payment of less than $ 50, equating to a 10% fee in the best case, or a 50% fee if you decide to send $10… The Bitcoin community was quick to emphasize the $0.01 transaction fee that apply in almost all cases involving transactions made within the Bitcoin Network.
Since then, the remittance leader strives to limit the spread of this parody as evidenced by this screenshot that a user has shared, describing the removal request made by WU representatives on mocking Facebook posts.
Streisand Effect: The Viral Spread of Online Information Increases Exponentially with Deletion Attempts
However, according to the well-known Streisand effect, the viral spread of online information is likely to increase exponentially as soon as one tries to obtain its deletion. Law that is confirmed by the retweets and other likes that are gaining momentum since the last 24 hours.
New subvertisings are also emerging, criticizing point by point WU ‘s advertisements like this one that highlights Bitcoin universal and timeless design.
Update: November 25, 2014 at 5:29 pm CET
Our bitcoin visionary Nicolas Cary has just shared his own subvertising:
What do you think of Western Union’s damage control attempts? Comment below!
Images from 360b, Reddit, Imgur and Shutterstock.
