H-P looks to control parents' minds

Hewlett-Packard is launching a campaign it's calling "viral" (though the proof, of course, is in the pudding), to, um, help teens convince their parents to buy them HPs for school. Under the heading, "The Society for Parental Mind-Control," it includes the opporunity to send "ESP emails" to parents suggesting potential laptop purchases for their kids and so forth. There are the obligatory "viral" films, and although the one above isn't included at the campaign site controltheminds.com, it appears to be part of the campaign. No mention in the release of Goodby, Silverstein—just a quote from Brendan Malloy of Black Dog Films, which shot the films. UPDATE: The campaign is the work of McCann-Erickson, San Francisco, which also does some work for HP.