A classic, from TechDirt (Oct. 30):
It appears that Universal Studios recognize that the followers of the cult favorite TV show Firefly would be a great source of viral marketing for the movie based on the show, Serenity. They put together a huge viral marketing campaign…. However, as with so many of these things, it appears that the marketers at Universal forgot to tell the lawyers at Universal, who recently decided to send out cease and desist letters to a bunch of the guerilla marketers they had pushed to promote the film.
More: Tijir, Oct. 28.
One Comment
Briliiant… Absurd though it seems, it does raise the serious point that Web 2.0 “pro-sumer” dynamics sit very ill with the traditional distinction between producers and consumers. There are other examples – the user generated Chevy Tahoe adverts that Chevy’ marketeers hoped would build grass roots support, but ended up denigrating the car’s lack of social consciousness (at least Chevy was smart enough not to sue them, but you know they wanted to) being the most high profile.