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Gizmodo "Prankster" Banned for Life
Who's Got the Remote Now?
by Sean
We all had a pretty good laugh at the "prank" pulled by those wacky guys over at Gizmodo during the last week's CES. You remember, their bloggers were given the TV-B-Gone remote as floor swag. They then took the remotes and shut down several large companies' very expensive displays, including one live press event.
Well, it looks like the folks over at the CEA weren't as amused as some of us were. In fact, they were so unimpressed with the stunt that they have banned the blogger responsible from attending any CES events ever again. Moreover, the CEA is considering further action against Gizmodo, and its parent company, Gawker Media.
From a letter the CEA sent to c|net:
We have been informed of inappropriate behavior on the show floor by a credentialed media attendee from the Web site Gizmodo, owned by Gawker Media. Specifically, the Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event. The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of CES media credentials and caused harm to CES exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future CES events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion.
Having been a blogger at CES (although not around for these hijinks), I can say that although it at first seems funny when we hear stories like this (maybe because we're used to the silliness of PAX or VGXPO) CES is first-and-foremost a big business event. You can't take a step in any of the dozen or so buildings it is housed in without realizing you're standing in a place that costs and generates gargantuan amounts of money. And when you spend that money, you don't expect your carefully planned sales displays to be sabotaged by bloggers who are attending the show for free.
It should come as no surprise that Gizmodo is facing a backlash over their "fun". What remains to be seen is whether or not future CES attendees given the "Blogger" designation will face a backlash of our own.
Comments
I immediately thought this was funny and probably worth it for that one blogger. But you bring up a good point, hopefully bloggers in general won't be penalized by having their title tainted.
That type of stuff is only funny when the other person is an asshole and deserves it but when your messing with random hard working people, your the asshole. I'm glad they got banned. I read Gizmodo and I have to admit that the spoiled brat vibe permeates pretty deeply around there.