In my previous post I wrote about the television promotions for Grudge Match – a cultural abortion featuring – according to the poster for the film – the severed heads of Sylvester Stalone and Robert DeNiro scotch-taped onto some young men’s bodies.
When I first saw the promos – which prominently feature people’s tweets as endorsements for the film – I hypothesized that the people whose Twitter accounts were featured were either being paid flat-out for their flattering tweets, or were working with some sort of marketing company that was paying them on some sort of scale based on web traffic.
I was wrong
A few of the people associated with the featured Twitter accounts, VicTeflonDon and ChristyGirls03, contacted me and explained what actually happened, which is a bit grosser than I suspected.
I should point out that both of these people seemed super cool and nice.
Here’s what happened: You go to a mall. You’re walking around. Someone asks you if you want to see a free movie. You say yes. You fill out a bunch of forms, including your contact information and apparently your social media information, and sign a release, the contents of which I don’t know – but apparently they state that Warner Bros. can use information on your social media sites to promote the film.
You watch the film, say what you liked, what you didn’t etc., and the studio makes some changes based on what we all know to be the standard by which all art should be judged – people hanging out at the mall with nothing to do.
After you leave the mall seven hours later, Warner Bros. scours your Twitter feed, and probably the black-box they’ve stashed by your headboard, for positive comments regarding the film.
Again – I suspect they are doing this because it is REALLY hard to find positive comments about this film.
Then, they post your comments about the film prominently on a national commercial, along with your Twitter handle.
This is a strange tactic, and seems like a serious invasion of privacy.
I noticed that a few of the accounts featured on the commercial have been deleted. Af first I assumed this was because they were discovered to be fake. Now, I think it is because weirdos like myself pause the commercial, write down the people’s Twitter handles, and post things on their feeds making fun of them for liking Grudge Match, and people get tired of it.
They just wanted a free movie.
Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight on what is actually happening here.