What do you do when film critics think your films are terrible? Why, you create your own critic, of course! This is exactly what Columbia Pictures did in the early 2000s after a string of critically panned projects. Hollow Man, The Animal, The Forsaken... these were all Columbia Pictures films that critics hated yet one critic, a man named Dave Manning writing for Ridgefield Press, always seemed to find the good within them. Hollow Man wasn't ridiculous, it was One hell of a scary ride!. The Animal wasn't an unfunny mess, it was another winner. And The Forsaken wasn't cringe-worthy and embarrassing, it was a sexy, scary thrill ride!. All it takes is a single glowing comment to shape an entire marketing campaign. All was going well until Newsweek reporter John Horn began investigating film junkets (essentially the process of promoting films through press releases, interviews and advertising campaigns). Horn discovered that Ridgefield Press had never heard of a man named Dave Manning, and wondered why Sony would invent a fake critic, when many film studios were known for courting critics through other lavish means. In the end, it transpired that a young Sony marketing executive had been responsible for the invention of Manning, and the executive had worked alone. Or so Sony claimed, anyway. In the end, they wound up having to pay one and a half million dollars to disgruntled film-goers who took them to court. That's a pretty costly lie.
