"2012 and how good viral marketing can go bad"

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

For those of you who don't believe that more care should be taken in how certain subjects are portrayed in movies...and the marketing of them....

From The Guardian:

Disaster movie 2012 inspired panic in the States with Nasa having to reassure Americans that the world wasn't about to end. Is movie viral marketing getting too clever for its own good?

When Columbia Pictures launched a marketing campaign for 2012 – the latest disaster movie from serial Earth molester Roland Emmerich, where the planet, played by America, is set for impending doom – they didn't do it by halves.

First, there was a teaser trailer showing a tsunami crashing over the Himalayas. The Earth was going to end in 2012, it said, and the world's governments aren't doing enough to prepare us. Search "2012", it said, for "the truth" (the "truth" turned out to be over 1,000 real websites and 175 real books obsessed with 2012 as the end of time).

Then, there was a fake website – the "Institute for Human Continuity" – which consisted of a screen stating that for 25 years they'd been assessing threats to the continuation of mankind, and the results were in.  The "odds of global destruction" in 2012 had been confirmed at 94% (goodbye mortgage) and "to ensure your chance of survival, register for the lottery". In other words, it was a web campaign that seemed to say: "Look, the end of time might actually be coming, so enjoy a film about it why you still can, yeah?"

Many didn't get the joke. Tens of thousands from all over the world panicked, called Nasa, wrote letters – couldn't they do some saving of people too?

"I think people are really, really worried about the world coming to an end," said David Morrison of Nasa. "Kids are contemplating suicide. Adults tell me they can't sleep and can't stop crying."

Indeed, Nasa got so many queries, they set up a specific site to deal with them. Yet perhaps even more worryingly, 2012 is not alone. Following the success of Blair Witch, nearly every film worth its celluloid now has its own teaser campaign, web mystery, and viral marketing push, and even the simplest promotional campaign can have unexpected consequences.

Nasa's website.

[Bob]

"I think people are really, really worried about the world coming to an end," said David Morrison of Nasa. "Kids are contemplating suicide. Adults tell me they can't sleep and can't stop crying."


Damn, we have some rock stupid people roaming the world.....

[mrbasehart]

Damn, we have some rock stupid people roaming the world.....

There are almost 6 billion of us.  Not all of us can have working brains.   

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

Damn, we have some rock stupid people roaming the world.....

There are almost 6 billion of us.  Not all of us can have working brains.   

just look at the Twilight series

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Back when Blair Witch was being marketed The Sci-Fi Channel used to show a "documentary" that said it was all real and that the "film makers" were dead.....they did the whole thing like the movie was real.

There are still people who believe that.

Movies and movie promotions could be becoming the new source of urban legends.

[stansimpson]

Back when Blair Witch was being marketed The Sci-Fi Channel used to show a "documentary" that said it was all real and that the "film makers" were dead.....they did the whole thing like the movie was real.

There are still people who believe that.

What are you trying to say?  That after the year 2012, people will still believe the earth's gonna end.

Man, this is like Y2K all over again.  Humanity is pretty stupid.  Predictable and stupid.

[Johnny Unusual]

Don't worry, we'll find something arbitrary to be scared of soon enough.  We always do.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Back when Blair Witch was being marketed The Sci-Fi Channel used to show a "documentary" that said it was all real and that the "film makers" were dead.....they did the whole thing like the movie was real.

There are still people who believe that.

What are you trying to say?  That after the year 2012, people will still believe the earth's gonna end.

Well, I put nothing past some of these people.  Reminds me of a Beyond the Fringe skit....

I brought up Blair Witch because that's something that after all these years everyone would have caught on to or had it explained to them by now and yet...

[Darth Geek]

I wish I could find the Clamp Cable Network end of the world video from Gremlins 2.