'I'm a Momon' Ad Campaign Mobbed by Trolls

Today's New York Times spotlights a $6.1 million ad campaign by the Mormon Church aimed at bringing new converts to the faith. One group of followers they may not have expected to attract? Hordes of Internet trolls.

In the past few months, the ad campaign "I'm a Mormon" has been appearing on billboards, bus signs andYouTube videos. According to the Times, the campaign just extended its reach into 21 media markets with ad spots featuring personal stories of people you might not think of as Mormons (a fashion designer in New York City, a Haitian-American mayor in Utah and a Hawaiian longboad surfer). The Timesmeasures the campaign's success by the uptick in visits to chat rooms on Mormon.org, which the campaign directs visitors to. "Is the campaign working? In the past 12 months, the Web site has had more than one million people initiate online chats with Mormons."

We hopped on one of these chat rooms to ask about the uptick in users and a friendly Mormon named Jimmy was more than happy to elaborate. "I have noticed an influx," he said. However, not all of it's coming from curious seekers of a new faith. "Some humor sites, such as artoftrolling.com ... encourage people to frequent the chat service," he said.