Pizza joint takes Twitter 'follow' literally, 'stalks' fans

As anyone who uses Twitter knows, part of interacting with the service is following other people, or having them follow you.

But in a new ad campaign, pizza chain Mellow Mushroom takes the idea of "following" quite literally.

According to Creativity Online, Mellow Mushroom recently began following -- in the real world -- some of its newest Twitter friends. It seems that when about 20 people began following the company's Twitter account, Mellow Mushroom wasn't content to simply reciprocate. Instead, it sent pizza-bearing mascots out onto the streets to, yes, follow the unsuspecting folks. And filmed the whole thing with hidden cameras. (Ad Age reports that Mellow Mushroom received help from the friends and family of its "victims.")

If you watch the video, there's no sense that anyone got too upset about it, and pizza was eaten at the end of it all. But if it had been me, I think I would have called the police, and possibly considered knee-capping the bizarre yellow-suited weirdo tracking my every step down the street.

Then again, who doesn't like free pizza?