Microsoft is now looking to merchandise its Scroogled campaign to comically draw attention to some of the privacy pitfalls of Gmail, Adsense, Chrome and other digital services by Google. If you head over to the Scroogled store you can find a catalogue of items including everything from t-shirts, hoodies, hats and coffee mugs.
Some critics, including myself in the past, have said that Microsoft’s previous Scroogled TV commercials and other efforts have been clumsy, but we have to admit the Scroogled store is pretty damn funny and, according to Microsoft, the campaign is gaining traction.
“The Scroogled campaign has struck a chord with consumers,” a spokesman for Microsoft said to the Wall Street Journal. “The Scroogled gear is a fun way for them to do that.”
Take a closer look at the entire Scroogled catalog, but be careful not to step into any Web crawling and information stealing spider webs:
Scroogled Keep Calm Mug
Just because Google is supposedly “trying to make money on almost every aspect of your digital life, you’re still calm. And fully caffeinated.”
Scroogled Word Cloud T-shirt
Gulled. Humbugged. Buffaloed. Wire-tapped. Extorted. Sold out. Chicaned. Fleeced. Scammed. Conned. Surveilled. Double-dealt. Ensnared. Suckered. Sandbagged. Gossiped. Scandalmongered. Flimflammed. Skullduggered. Bamboozled. Hornswoggled. Beguiled. Cheated. Fooled. Double-crossed. Defrauded. Hoodwinked. Swindled. Duped. These are some of the synonyms Microsoft has for being Scroogled.
Scroogled Spider Web T-shirt
Do you use Gmail, Google Search, Google Hang Outs or Google+? Looks like you’re a fly trapped in Google’s web…
Take a Closer Look
Google’s eye is ever watchful!
Now, I’m not a copyright lawyer, but isn’t it illegal for you to put a trademarked symbol that you do not own the rights to, like the Chrome logo, onto your own merchandise and sell it? Perhaps Ebeneezer Scroogle can pay Microsoft one more visit this holiday to collect on that!
It’s OK, fess up: are you being Scroogled too?