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A comment on How We Created a Fake Vodka Brand to Promote Our Startup. Parent comment

Re:How We Created a Fake Vodka Brand to Promote Our Startup by jasondenizac on Thursday August 01, 2013 @02:13PM (#6142242)
I actually think this promotion was extremely on-brand for what this startup is (or was) doing. I can't speak to the regulatory compliance angle, but the fact is that this was clever, effective, and well-placed customer contact. It's not the risk profile that I would personally look for, but it is a little sad to see so many on HN rushing to condemn it.

We can't have nice things when people who claim to be "disruptive" are actually busy pursuing safe, risk-averse targets.

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Re:How We Created a Fake Vodka Brand to Promote Our Startup by kevinbracken on Thursday August 01, 2013 @02:24PM (#6142314)
Indeed. Our market back then was quasi-legal loft parties and house parties, so this was idea was definitely to fit the mood of the "modern speakeasy." Thanks!
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Re:How We Created a Fake Vodka Brand to Promote Our Startup by ihateloggingin on Thursday August 01, 2013 @08:36PM (#6144677)
I don't really care about ATF regulations, but there is no moral high ground here. This was just plagiarism. These people pretended to have done something that they did not do. They took credit for someone else's work.

So "we can't have nice things" here means "we can't plagiarize vodka"? Well you can't plagiarize Steven King either. Deal with it.

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Re:How We Created a Fake Vodka Brand to Promote Our Startup by bluefinity on Friday August 02, 2013 @12:00AM (#6145245)
So, if I buy 1000 pens, and have my company name printed on them, I'm plagiarizing someone else's work? That's nonsense.

Cheap vodka is a commodity, not an art form.

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Re:How We Created a Fake Vodka Brand to Promote Our Startup by ihateloggingin on Tuesday August 13, 2013 @04:55PM (#6208205)
It would be if you lied to people and told them that you made the pens.

The example you chose is deliberately one in which it would be assumed that you were not asserting authorship. Frankly, choosing that example shows you're dishonest.

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