Maybe for someone who has never viewed an ad before (which almost entirely exist in hypothetical universes, aka fictional), but it's clearly marketing speak and not someone's actual writing.
Ads that show fictional stuff are one kind. The kind that doesn't mention the names of people they show, as if they are real people. E.g: the cool guy goes in the bar, grabs a cold beer of brand X and wins the girl. A guy is driving a car in a rough terrain with epic music, etc.
On the other side, ads that show _testimonials_ or _endorsments_ on SOCIAL MEDIA, are expected to show REAL posts/tweets/etc -- or, at the very least, to have PAID the people mentioned in them to lie about their love of the product.
Try making an ad with @MagicJohnson or @Oprah shown twitting about endorsing your product without their knowledge, and see how fast the lawyers will knock on your door...
The users did NOT endorse twitter more than they already do—that is, implicitly, by using twitter. Unless their handle is trademarked I don't see an issue.
EDIT: I'd like to clarify I believe that Twitter fucked up, I just think the outrage(!?) is hysterical, proportionally to what they deserve (i.e. "Swap out the handles and avatars and move on, maybe issue an apology to the users and an explanation"). Nobody is accusing them of actually faking endorsements, most people wouldn't recognize the people portrayed and they'd be pretty lame endorsements.
No, but they are shown endorse a fake "Barista bar". Which is something they never did.
>I'd like to clarify I believe that Twitter fucked up, I just think the outrage(!?) is hysterical
A few online angry posts and news articles is "hysterical"? I reserve that word for people _actually_ foaming at the mouth, hacking attempts, death threats, etc.
>* Nobody is accusing them of actually faking endorsements, most people wouldn't recognize the people portrayed and they'd be pretty lame endorsements.*
An endorsement is an endorsement whether you recognize the person or not. And they did fake endorsements. It would take a perceptive viewer (of the kind that is lacking) to note that the ad is fake -- and even then, he could assume those are legit tweets.
Oh, and it doesn't have to be "most people". It's enough that their friends or followers recognize them. You except twitter to NOT use your name with words you never said.
