VietNamNet Bridge – “Black” websites which have high numbers of visitors and attract viewers with sensitive pillow talk and stories about violence have become the most favorite places for Vietnamese businesses to post ad pieces on.

Serious businesses also like black webs?

Some days ago, a local newspaper discovered that a banner advertising for Techcombank, one of the biggest joint stock banks in Vietnam, was hung on a black website named “cuophiepgiet” (which is understood as “robbing, raping, killing”).

The information, which caught the special attention from the public, then immediately appeared on all local newspapers before a representative of the bank came forward and affirmed that Techcombank did not post the ad piece on the black website, and that the bank never has the intension of posting information on such a website.

People believe in Techcombank, because they think such as a serious legal entity would not be foolish to advertise itself on such a “rag” website. However, a lot of people, who works in the mass media sector, have affirmed that this should not be seen as an “unfamiliar thing”, saying that in principle, businesses should post their information on the websites and newspapers which have the highest numbers of viewers.

According to Buu Dien newspaper, some months before the Techcombank’s case was discovered, the name of a “big guy” in the field of digital equipment distribution – The Gioi Di Dong Joint Stock Company – also disappeared on a black web Quachdaica...

The image and the website dienmay.com, a subsidiary of Thegioididong.com were seen on Quachdaica... for a long time from late 2011 to early 2012. The website was set up following the disreputable blog in Vietnam which appeared several years ago, specializing in posting sensational news and “sensitive pillow talk”, including sex-relating stories. The blog was then considered as the one of the blogs with the highest numbers of visitors.

What do enterprises say?

Right after the piece of news about Techcombank came out on cuopgiethiep web (which is now inaccessible), the bank has denied the fact that it tries to popularize itself by posting information on black websites.

The representative has affirmed that Techcombank would never let its well known name appear on such websites, because this would spoil the image of the bank and reduce its prestige.

Meanwhile, The Gioi Di Dong keeps quiet on the information about posting ad pieces on the black website.

However, Ngoc Quang, a media executive of NS, a media firm in Hanoi, said that it would be quite normal and understandable to post information on such information pages.

It would be less costly to post information on black websites. Businesses just have to pay 3 million dong a month to keep their banners on the most advantageous positions. Meanwhile, they can expect higher effects from the ad pieces because of the higher numbers of visitors to black websites than official online newspapers.

Meanwhile, the administrators of the black websites have been offering very attractive conditions to businesses to persuade them to post ad pieces on their websites. It’s understandable that businesses would not miss the opportunities to popular their images at low costs.

Amid the strong and rapid development of virtual social network like Facebook, more and more Vietnamese enterprises tend to choose websites to post their ad pieces, while they do not care about the prestige of the websites and their owners.

Therefore, Quang believes that not only Techcombank on cuopgiethiep, or The Gioi Di Dong on Quachdaica…, black websites would become the choice of many businesses as the new effective communication channels.

Source: Buu Dien