The End of The World- As We Know it

Today Im posting a little off topic- This post is neither art, nor life, but rather another realm altogether that I work often work with but rarely comment on: Marketing

I guess it relates in that it takes art and makes it a part of our life in a different way. As artists, in addition to being our own managers, we are also manufacturers, distributer, marketing team, sales person, public relations, legal department, fulfillment, and often delivery service for our goods. (Man we need to outsource!)
Anyways...


The Folks At Sony Pictures have taken viral marketing a step further with their new picture "2012"



With their marketing campaign, at no small production expense, they have essentially "produced" a creatively engineered an alternatively reality.

Im not saying it is a bad thing- I think it is great marketing! And it honestly looks like a good film- honestly, something is needed to differentiate a half way decent film from the continuous sludge of garbage hollywood is grinding out these days.

But Take A moment, Check this out::

Click the links a litle bit ((and make sure you check out the video at: http://www.thisistheend.com/2009/01/welcome-to-the-apocalypse.php
ts hilarous)

Allow yourself to be pulled into the environment created, be impressed, get excited- it's great material, and it does make you veeeery excited to see the movie...

Now take another moment and step back, observe these effects, and look closer at what they have achieved here: An entire reality built around the up coming movie.

Privately produced videos distributed through Youtube, their public reactions, and several websites tout:
+A book that was never written (or was it?)
+An international research and conservation organization that does not exist
with a history that never occurred.(or did it?)
+Professional, academic endorsements never made (or were they?) by people who do
not exist (or do they?)
+A grassroots awareness movement led by an avid (albeit suspciously media-savvy
and technically gifted,) fanatic named Charlie Frost (using the internet as
his own AM talk radio station to answer questions and disseminate information
bout the the truth or myth of government plots, survival measures, multiple
spiritual historial (And psychic)revelations predicting the end of the world,
and several scientific theories speculating on its cause.


What's the point you ask? Well to me, its easy to see how if someone lived inside of their computer, you could think it was all real. (If a gullible person happened upon these vidoes, googled the keywords, watched the "research presentations," if it wasnt for the fact that the "fanatic" portrayed is played by Woody Harrelson, we'd be worried!!)

Now lets revisit that: "someone who lives inside of a computer." hrrrm...
When was the last time you talked to your mom in person? Read a newspaper?
When's the last time you got some world news first-hand? Or from a reputable, impartial source?(That could be 10 or 20 years for some of us...)


Has it gone too far? Or does it offered insight into how far it can go...

I remember the feeling I got when I first saw the planes crashing into the WTC... I was like "WTF"(no pun intended) thats a crazy idea"- and then I went to class.

To me, this campaign illustrate how easily a few websites can present some carefully choreographed and well presented fiction, and make it look veeeery compellingly much like fact. Incorporating current news events, popular science fiction, some micheal crichton novel premises, create an entire environment simulationg "real life" occurences.



knowledge to arm yourselves with people.