It comes as no surprise that this week a popular website support campaign has been revealed as nothing more than an elaborate marketing hoax. Online casino player Carl Valentine made headlines in recent months after a bet forced him to promise to amputate a finger. In fact, the campaign has been revealed as a marketing ploy attempting to attract increased web traffic.
The website, SaveMyFinger.com, received widespread publicity when Valentine appealed to visitors to help save his right finger. SaveMyFinger.com aimed to attract two million visitors to the site by 18 April. 2006.

This week, the anonymous brain behind the marketing scheme referred to it as a “viral marketing experiment.” The webmaster also revealed that: “The intention of this website was to literally do an experiment with Viral Marketing. And I'm happy to announce that the experiment worked...My point in this experiment was to prove that it is possible to open up a website and within days, if not hours, be receiving massive traffic.”
Since the launch of SaveMyFinger.com on 12 December, 2005, a total of 1.601.255 visitors have frequented the site. However, while the site’s creator has dismissed the Valentine scheme as simply a “funny story”, others have pointed out that there is nothing funny about manipulating the sympathy and good will of online casino fans.

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