Those damn things pop up everywhere. It doesn’t matter how legitimate the site is that you’re perusing. They are still there. \nBut unlike ESPN’s mildly entertaining Orbitz sports games, some advertising banners can be controversial. 50 Cent seems to think one is crossing a line.\nStar rapper 50 Cent reportedly filed a $1 million lawsuit against internet advertising company Traffix Inc., claiming that the company outfitted its ad banner with a cartoon depiction of him encouraging its customers to “Shoot the Rapper” to win money or free ringtones. If the mouse clicks successfully, blood shoots out of the rapper before the customer is brought to the new Web site.\n50 Cent, who has said he has been shot nine times in real life, heard about the advertisement from a member of his management crew who found it on MySpace.com.\nBut being a business major who aspires to be in advertising, this lawsuit got me thinking of other great celebrity games that could be used as advertising banners.\nHere are a few ideas I’ve come up with:\nThe customer’s goal is to prevent actress Lindsay Lohan from getting to the bar. The cursor is the drink, and it has to be successfully brought to a non-rehabbed customer before Lohan can steal it.\nThis next banner has customers acting as Bobby Brown slapping Whitney Houston around.\nOne banner can have the customer being Sebastian Telfair trying to shoot Fabolous.\nAnother banner can have the customer acting as a doctor performing plastic nose surgery on Ashlee Simpson. The cursor has to be directly over the nose to be successful.\nOn this banner, the customer has to be the police arresting Paris Hilton by clicking on her to cuff her. This banner is special, too, because bonus points are awarded to the cop who can destroy the dog and arrest Paris all in one motion. Mike Vick should be good at this advertisement.\nThis other banner has a little more educational value to young men. Customers have to shave off Harry Potter’s entire beard without making any cuts.\nMore and more banners can be made daily to attack flaws of any and every celebrity.\nBut is 50 Cent really angry about the advertisement, or is this a big publicity stunt? He does have a new album dropping into stores Sept. 11, and I still can’t understand why a guy who has been shot in real life would care about being clicked by teenagers and child molesters on MySpace. \nIt must be a big publicity stunt.\nEither way, I can now proudly say I’ve shot 50 Cent. I even got a free ringtone for doing it.
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