If you've ever discussed your "skin issues" on a blog, Facebook, or Twitter, good news: the Unilever corporation was listening in!

In order to promote some new Vaseline lotion, Unilever decided to find some REAL PEOPLE who could be molded into suitable spokesbots. How did they find these people?

The [ad] agency worked with a subcontractor to crawl the Internet for conversations around words like "dry skin," "lotions" and "skin issues," and to scan blogs and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook for conversations people were having about those topics.

"We looked at everything that was out there," Ms. Bekton said.

They looked at you, when you were complaining about that rash in an ill-advised still-drunk late night Facebook update. But they rejected you in favor of three "mommy bloggers," including one whose blog is called "A Giveaway Addicted Mommy," which sounds just about perfect.

[NYT. Photo: Shutterstock]