Canned Kin

So Microsoft has killed the Kin due to sluggish sales. I have to admit, I chuckled when I read the news. Why? Because they've been heavily marketed in the last 2-3 weeks. Swag Bucks, for example, has been running their video ads like mad last week and earlier this week. Personally, I loved it because each time I clicked and viewed one, it got me 3 Swag Bucks. But what struck me as interesting was that I would watch the ad once, check my balance, come back to the ad list and behold, there's another ad for the Kin to watch. That would repeat itself several times. I could easily net 9 Swag Bucks in the span of under 3 minutes just watching Kin ads. I mean, they were really pimpin' those things out.

Then there's Pretty Little Liars. In just last week's episode Lucy Hale's character Aria stood next to her friends by their lockers and literally said, "oh, I can just check my Kin!" Um, hello! If that doesn't scream PRODUCT PLACEMENT! I don't know what does. In fact, here's a screenshot from this week's episode which aired on Tuesday, June 29, 2010:


Admittedly I can't say I know all that much about the Kin, but there is one thing I can say: I sure am going to miss their video ads on Swag Bucks because they were some good buckaroos from being pimped so much. Now I know why. Which brings me to something else:

Bing was heavily marketed on Swag Bucks for about a month too. For a while there, every time I logged on, there was a vid ad from Bing which could often be replayed for credit several times. Those were only 2 Swag Bucks each, but still they added up. Does that mean Bing is struggling too? Can anything compete with Google? What search engine do you use most often?