Is Clare the bogan a PR stunt?
Questions have been raised about whether newly minted online sensation Clare Werbeloff is a “fabricated bogan”.
Justin Polites, a digital planner at media agency Starcom MediaVest, has raised several questions on the company’s blog after looking into the story.
Werbeloff became an online celebrity after her colourful recounting of a shooting involving a “fat wog” and a “skinny wog” went viral.
But Polites asks whether Werbeloff may in fact be working with specialist agency The Projects, which specialises in marketing to young adults. The Projects appears to be linked to the PR company now representing Werbeloff, and Polites has also dug out a staff photograph on The Projects website that includes somebody who looks like Werbeloff.
And he questions the prominence of the Toohey Extra Dry’s 6Beers of Separation advertising in so many of the shots. The 6Beers project features young Australians having adventures as they seek out their idols.
He offers “five reasons why Clare might not be a bogan”:
- She has employed UNO PR -Adam Abrams Link
- UNO PR falls under the umbrella and at the same address as The Projects
- The Projects is a specialist agency targeting young adults Link
- The Projects is located 6min from the shooting in Paddington (same as PR firm)
- Is that Clare below on the Project site?Link
At the time of posting, Toohey’s Extra Dry brewer Lion Nathan’s press office was on voicemail. When Mumbrella rang The Projects this morning they said that nobody by the name of Clare worked there.
Meanwhile, dozens of news stories have been dedicated to Werbeloff, along with several Facebook fan pages.
In the Daily Telegraph, Joe Hildebrand argues:
“Any remaining doubt that Clare Werbeloff is the greatest thing to happen to Sydney since John Bradfield must surely be eliminated by the fact she now has a celebrity agent.”
However, for Polites to be correct and the video to be a stunt, the question would have to be answered of how Werbeloff managed to be at the scene of the crime to give the interview in the first place.
Updates: Lion Nathan categorically denies any invovlement. The company did promise to send a statement, which is yet to arrive.
And NineMSN has published its own comments, after speaking to the cameraman who shot the original video. It says:
The source of the video was contract cameraman Greg Dulson, who was working the regular night shift for Nine News on Sunday morning.
Greg told us he didn’t think there was anything rehearsed about Clare’s performance. “I think she came up to me and then I said ‘Do you know what happened?’ and she said ‘Yes’ and she just spontaneously came up with what you saw on the vision there,” Greg said.
“I think she was a young girl that had had a few drinks… it wasn’t a beat up. She didn’t stand there [in front of the beer ad] specifically … I framed it so that the police car was in the back [of the shot].
“You’ve got to understand that you’re at a shooting, you’re there to get the action at the time and usually get a grab afterwards.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Just call him “Horatio”. Nice work mate!
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If this were to be a fake it would surely be the least tasteful campaign ever??
Ignoring for a moment the fact that communicating successfully with youth comes with a responsibility not to glamourise excessive drinking and violent behaviour, a man was shot at! Since when was that an acceptable opportunity to push a brand?
No, it has to be real.
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She just can’t be real, can she?
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It’s a nice theory, but I personally doubt it. Putting aside the sheer amount of luck and inspiration required, it would be the most callous PR stunt I’ve ever heard of.
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Might want to change the ‘she questions’ and ‘She offers five reasons’ to ‘he questions’, given it is Justin, not Clare putting them forward 😉
The whole video doesn’t really feel like a something that a news service would air (even only in the online space) given the content of not only Clare’s monologue, but everyone else in the video.
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TED ran a great campaign with the 6 beers of seperation thing, surely they’re not dumb enough to ruin it with something like this! I’d find that incredibly hard to believe. Someone was shot for god’s sake!
Now, if she was trying to identify the victim by holding up his jacket that would be a different story…
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2. UNO PR falls under the umbrella and at the same address as The Projects
4. The Projects is located 6min from the shooting in Paddington (same as PR firm)
CLEARLY she is trying to livelocal
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Real or fake – this character balanced out what would have been a week of ‘wog’ beat-ups following the incident. Therefore, I have a theory of my own.
Clare has been hired by the Australian Lebanese Foundation (ALF). She, along with similar others, are to hang out at Saphire, Badabing, DCM, Rogues, Verandah Bar, Red Room, Ivy and Stanmore Maccers in the case of an ‘incident’.
On clarifying that ‘men from middle eastern descent’ were involved, they are to provide comment to the media. In their native tongue. In their own words. Thus diverting negative attention from one sub-culture to another and demonstrating that in fact, bad (and good) not so smart (and smart) can not be pinpointed to one race. Just to particular night spots.
Pure Genius. Good one ALF and keep working towards the anti-alienation of arabs in australia.
(This is a joke and not the real opinion of the writer). (yes it is) (no, it’s not). It is. (nope, just having fun). Damn split personality. Where are my pills?
Thank god it’s friday, aye?
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Oops! Thanks, James (now fixed – ‘never wrong for long’ is my motto)
Leave the sheila alone mate!
She’s a top sort.
And what’s so wrong about being an undercover beer brand ambassador anyway?
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My first thought was this is just too good to be real!
Check out my colleague’s rather different views on the saga here: http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.....m3610.html
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Maybe it’s so hard for an individual to believe that there is someone out there who is so casually racist and offensive (however perky), that’s it’s easier to think that it’s a PR stunt.
Come on people. A man was shot. Jake saw it. The guy who saw the Glock 9 saw it. And…this 19 year old saw it.
Forget getting a publicist, she should get an education.
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Give it a week and she’ll be on the cover of Zoo
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saw the young lady in question having a coffee at Ulveto on Bayswater road this morning, with some concerned looking agency types (all jeans and designer tousling).
So, fix or real? Either way, doesn’t really say a lot about the health of our industry
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this is getting bigger than 9/11.
Exactly which girl in the photo looks like Clare? I don’t see any resemblance
You can’t even read the 6 beers ads in the back.
The other stuff is tenuous.
However, the Zoo cover prediction does seem plausible!
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Is Justin Polites serious? Ol’ Chk Chk Boom here is:
a) (edited for libel)
b) Racist
c) The witness to a shooting
Maybe Justin should drop the investigative journalism gig and listen to his inner “planner” and ask: What mainstream brand that markets itself to Aussie youth would even consider being associated with drugs, racism and (real) violence?
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What is the link to the blog post by Justin Polites, and why isn’t it included in the story?
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Hi Skeptic – beat you to it by about 60 seconds! My bad – link’s in place now.
Ask her yourself @clare_werbeloff
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Looks like a fake Twitter account to me…
“Did I mention I used to have a golly wog? Until Lynchee, my pitt bull, tore it to shreds.”
So does this mean TED staged the shooting as well as planting a handy bogan eyewitness? C’mon.
And if Claire isn’t a legit redneck, she deserves a freakin’ Oscar.
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If it is a PR stunt (and for the record, I don’t think it is), Lion Nathan could be in a whole lot of trouble with regards to the advertising codes around drinking responsibly.
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If this is a PR stunt, then it goes down as one of the all time greats. I have no idea what they’re selling but let me know and I’ll buy six of them tomorrow. If not, more power to the bogans.
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you can’t be serious. What PR stunt involves being the witness to an attempted murder?
Morons, the lot of you.
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http://starcomdigitalsblog.blo.....bogan.html
http://twitter.com/warringa
Appreciate the comments.
Or perhaps it’s just a PR exercise for the company unrelated to Lion Nathan. I never suggested Lion Nathan approved the activity or that Clare has fabricated the story. Reread the source I have just linked together a series of random happenings and carefully inserted the word “may”. The conclusions you have drawn are your own because I have no access to Clare or her PR company.
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You can’t be serious. What kind of PR stunt involves being the witness to an attempted murder?
Morons, the lot of you.
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sorry for the double posting…
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am I the only one who thinks that there is a problem with being Australia being viewed as the Jim Crow of the 21st century? FYI Wog is an unacceptable racial slur in the rest of the world.
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“Lion Nathan could be in a whole lot of trouble with regards to the advertising codes around drinking responsibly.”
I’d say she was (edited for libel reasons) rather than drunk.
Now Jake and his girlfriend on the other hand….
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“am I the only one who thinks that there is a problem with being Australia being viewed as the Jim Crow of the 21st century?”
Here’s an alternative definition of prejudice: tarnishing an entire country because one young woman used one racial epithet in a vox pop. Anyone that considers Australia to be “tarnished’ because of this has got a reality problem.
btw considering the common use of the word “wog” self-referentially, (eg the successful theatre production “Wogs out of work), I’d say that its linguistic power is much diminished.
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“I’d say she was (removed for libel reasons) rather than drunk.
Now Jake and his girlfriend on the other hand….”
Yes…Jake had definitely seen enough
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Is she related to the Ms Shelley Werbeloff at thisChannel Nine function?
http://www.newsphotos.com.au/I.....m=97060433
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The word wog means something different outside of Australia, and is not used self referentially in that meaning (essentially its still a racist term, but aimed at a different group).
Sadly those outside of Australia will understand the girl’s comments to be even more offensive than an Australian would.
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There’s nothing unauthentic about the original clips, YouTube uploads, comments, or any evidence of traffic manipulation. I find it tough to believe that co-ordinating a stunt at the scene of a crime in the hope that it will become organically viral could be part of any deliberate marketing strategy.
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Many thanks to posters for demonstrating just how many truly moronic people there are around Sydney.
BTW, what do wogs call Anglos?
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I have to say, anyone thinking this is a campaign of sorts has to be almost as (removed for legal reasons) as clare was. What brand in their right mind would be using a shooting and a racist (ignorant is probably more accurate) to promote their brand?
Let’s focus on the important things people like why these so-called wogs had kiwi accents and what exactly had Jake seen prior that meant he had seen too much?
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The plot thickens, literally. Apparently the skinny guy isn’t so skinny either: http://www.news.com.au/story/0.....21,00.html
Scooby doo style *Well gang it looks like we have another mystery on our hands……*
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Notice she smiles at some points in the video?
http://alzak.spaces.live.com/b.....2503.entry
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No one seems to have considered the possibility that Claire was at the scene because she and her company were behind the shooting.
It seems quite plausible that a stunt (sorry, youth marketing) company would pay a person to be shot in order to gain it’s client YouTube notoriety.
Or have I become a little jaded with this form of marketing?
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Having been in the cross recently on a Saturday night at around 1am completely sober, the caliber of Clare does not faze me in the least. It really is frightening to see the amount of people her age who are just a stupid and ignorant as she is
And yes, this comment is coming from someone who is under the age of 25
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This is actually a Gruen Transfer stunt , it is the sequel to the ant discrimination ad.
You are all so quick to support cracking down on fat jokes, but so far none of you have an issue with using the term bogan to surmise Clare. The term is not even correct in NSW, she should be called a Westie.
Hang your heads in shame! 😉
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Harry B, they would probably call Anglos “skips”.. its a pretty common term.
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Fake or not, getting onto the NineMSN homepage is, well, outrageous.
http://www.ninemsn.com.au
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/Blo.....ments=true
Justin Polites is the new Susan Boyle.
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I guess the PR company shot the man in the leg too.. Just to advertise this 6beers ad(which i never saw until reading this)..
Why would Tooheys want their products linked with an attempted murder in Kings Cross. Think a little harder before writing your next piece
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Forget Claire, Jake is the real star here. His girlfriend is a real drag though.
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Here’s a quirky new twist.
In a separate story, the marketing agency behind the fake NSW Police Twitter account has sent out a press release owning up.
https://mumbrella.com.au/agency-admits-being-being-fake-police-twitter-account-5765
The spokesman for the agency is Adam Abrams, the same man who is spokesman for Clare.
No more than a coincidence, I’m sure, but he’s certainly having a busy week dealing with fake social media allegations involving the NSW police…
May I ask what Agency therefore maybe behind Trent from Punchbowl?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RjC-vh06_c
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Whether ninemsn truly “shot it down” or not is yet to be seen. It’s up to a lot of debate and would probably stay that way. (Do we see it on other networks?)
We’ll just let the media fuss about over nothing aye lol
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Trent from Punchbowl is fake and “Trent” is an actor. there are websites with how this was figured out but cant remember them at the moment. The people that created Trent also created “Beach Whale” appariantly.
Never believe everything you read or see these days as they say.
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Why has nobody questioned why such a racist statement was broadcast via ninemsn in the first place? This would never have appeared on the 6pm news.
How far should online media companies go in the quest for page views? It probably makes it easier that there are no wogs working in editorial positions at ninemsn.
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What nonsense. None of the girls in the photo look anything like her.
Does anyone seriously think a digital agency type would be hanging around the office at 3am in the hope of inserting themselves into vox pops at a shooting?
Justin Polites just went chk chk boom into his own foot.
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OK, all you really bright skips, tell me why all the hoo-haa is about how ignorant Clare is in describing wogs as wogs, yet not a word about wogs shooting each other in a public place.
Is this something they do so often that none of you thinks it’s worth mentioning? Is such an act not ignorant, stupid, dangerous and criminal?
This makes the rest of you look rather foolish, doesn’t it now?
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The term “wog” is well-understood to be an ethnic slur both outside of Australia and inside of Australia.
Most of the posters here have either
[1] Ignored the blatant use of an ethnic slur both in national broadcast and print media and instead focus on what some would say to be “trivial” issues.
[2] Justified the slur as being either socially acceptable or not an insult.
The question is Why?
The answer is known to the wise.
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Hey wise guy – there’s plenty of condemnation here of the girl’s choice of words. That’s not the issue being discussed so why are you getting all ‘holier than thou’ on us?
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Why is it than when I google Clare and today tonight (she is appearing on Monday) I get this link:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/w.....mp-friend/
Confused?
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As everyone ought to know, wogs begin at Calais.
Werbeloff is a Kraut name (ergo wog).
So – where is the controversy here? Wogs are entitled to self-referentialism as such. If anything referring to people as wogs if you are a wog is good PC. Remember the film “The Wog Boy?”
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It was all made up:
http://www.news.com.au/technol.....39,00.html
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Of course its proven to be a stupid pr stunt. While the police will not lay public mischief charges, I wonder if the NSW Anti Discriminatioin Board will have a go at her. I for one have looked up several of the Projects clients – some of whom I am an active consumer of their products such as Pacific Magazines. As an empowered consumer, I will be writing to those clients to suggest that if they want to retain consumers they might like to look elsewhere for their marketers. So pr stunts can backfire.
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Where’s the evidence that it’s a PR stunt? Is that a conclusion you just jumped to or have you know something because right now it’s a silly girl who couldn’t resist a camera.
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I must admit, I’m with Barman. My guess is that it was a spontaneous bit of fun rather than a planned stunt. Mind you, my personal view (since proved incorrect) was that she was genuine in the first place, so there you go…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
The story that Ben linked states quite definitively it’s BS
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Chk-Chk-Kerching! I guess she’s in hiding so ACA have her exclusively on Monday night. Can’t see this “career” lasting long but stranger things have happened. I still fail to see how this could be a PR stunt. There’s not a lot of mileage in linking your brand to gangsta action (unless you make Glocks.)
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Turns out she was a fake after all. The whole story was a lie. Im surprised the reporter who interviewed her got sucked into it. Not a huge fan of someone who wants attention. For what? She has no talent. Its like Paris hilton. Brain dead!!!
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The salient point being there was no reporter. The networks have so few left through cost-cutting that most stories that are shot out of business hours are done by freelance camera operators.
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“Wogs begin at Calais”
The term “Wog” in England is very much a slur against South Asians. You call someone that in most workplaces and you’ll be out of a job. It is a racial slur and a particulary old-fashioned one at that. Very few people would openly use it like a lot of Australia – young and old – do.
Isn’t it time you colonial Aussie hicks grew up a bit ? Most of you aren’t even proper “Anglos” to start with. That’s the amusing thing here !
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Calm down, Rob M. Seriously, are you from the past?
‘Wog’ is just like any other word: it has no implied meaning other than that given it by its context. If you choose to be offended by it when it’s being used as a simple descriptor, well too bad for you – you’re now shy one word you can use, depriving you of the width and breadth of the English language the rest of us enjoy.
Penn and Teller explain this a lot better than me, though:
http://www.videosift.com/video.....-Profanity
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Mitch, I bet you wouldn’t use it to a stranger’s face. That’s the test.
And if you did, my guess is, you might be missing a few dentist whitened teeth.
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I use it – when appropriate, regardless of my surroundings. As in: West End has some kickass woggy restaurants!
I’ve never had any dental bills, but then again, I don’t hang out with the kind of people that resort to violence at the drop of a hat. Says something about your neighbourhood, mate.
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Mitch, the key isn’t if you find the word offensive. The real issue is does it offend the person you are aiming it at?
I have a number of Italian, Croatian and Greek friends of all ages who would be offended if you called them a ‘wog’.
It’s not in the same league as the ‘N’ word but in many circles it’s not far behind. Just because some blacks use the word doesn’t green light it for the rest of us.
I suggest you think long and hard before using the word.
And if you want to put it to a test I will pay for a film crew to follow you around for a day using the word and document the reaction. I think you might be surprised by the results!
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I just heard from a stylist friend that Clare is doing a photoshoot with Who Weekly. That’s all we need. Giving her more fame!!!!
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Meanwhile, everyone is up in arms at Sol Trujillo’s comment given overseas that Australia is racist. And we’re rewarding mini-Pauline with a photo shoot? Thank god Big Brother is off the air.
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Let’s not forget that in Australian culture ‘Wog’ is NOT a fiercey derogatory term for South Asians. It holds no rabidly offensive connotations, so Rob M’s comments aren’t relevant to this discussion.
I have no problem being referred to as ‘Whitey’. Do you?
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And what’s next for Clare..
2 Reasons with the PR bogan may appear in Zoo Weekly
http://starcomdigitalsblog.blo.....ar-in.html
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These are excellent observations Mr Polites. The extremely convenient and coincidental circumstances surrounding this, highlights questions that must be answered. Is it possible Marketing/PR heavyweights have learned from the fallout of people like Corey Worthington, and sought to actually create pre-packaged ‘idols’ from scratch, for consumption by young people? Even though ‘Clare’ has now employed UNO PR (Projects), this does not prove her PRIOR involvement with the company. The picture from the Projects website, however, warrants further investigation. A close examination of the facial characteristics shows a VERY close match with the character known as ‘Clare’. The nasal bridge, chin, jawline, eyes and prominent cheekbones are extremely similar. Please view this link to a comparison of the two pics, keeping in mind since the Projects pic she may have lost some weight, dyed her hair and gained an obviously fake tan: http://img43.imageshack.us/img.....recopy.jpg
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LK, I love the hard work you’ve put in. I would argue it may be more effort than she actually deserves though…
Cheers,
Tim
Haven’t noticed many of the haters from earlier on apologising to Justin yet?
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By the way, I’m not sure what it says about our news values, but I’ve just been looking at our metrics on this story. 10,164 views of this page so far.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
>? Haven’t noticed many of the haters from earlier on apologising to Justin yet?
I don’t about “haters” but he hasn’t received an apology because his conspiracy theory was wrong. Her being a liar was entirely a different issue.
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barman you sure do get passionate about such things. x4 post count
Perhaps you need to take some time to [fly] away from those indie promotions that are getting you so worked up and have a beer.
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You must have me confused with someone else. I only dispense beers and advice. My post count is high because I stupidly ticked the box to have follow-up comments emailed to me. I’m sure Tim doesn’t mind.
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Tim doesn’t mind at all. He can see this post getting to the 100 comments mark before the weekend.
(He doesn’t know why he’s suddenly started talking about himself in the third person though.)
Apology barman I just got a tip off from Bukowski on on the other side you know how he gets those things wrong. He was ranting on about Mickey Rourke and I had to cut him off. Feel free to continue the discussion I have Hunter on line 2.
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when I saw it 1st time I thought it was unbelieveable.
hasnt changed.
I reckon she hoodwinked the mass media big time with their rush to out the westie/bogan.
More fool you to the meida
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Werbegag is German for ‘publicity stunt’ ,Verbelov is Polish for’ gaping dupahole’…also have you ever noticed how Greg Page of The Wiggles wore the same yellow skivvy as Lord Summerisle in the Wicker Man?
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