(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* Super Bowl hasn't even happened yet and I am so sick of hearing about the commercials. I guess a lot got released early and the companies are going hard. That dumb Cetaphil ad about The Taylor Swift effect being good because it means daughters will watch football with their fathers is so... just what the fuck? Cetaphil is trying to ride her coattails and that ad is just weird if you think about it for 5 seconds.

They couldn't even afford to name drop her and even I know that commercial was about the healing power of Taylor Swift dating a football player because that makes sense

Also Super Bowl ads being a big deal is a hoax that came out of companies in the late 80s/early 90s deliberately overpaying for ad space to make it a news story and get their ads talked about on the news and covered in print newspapers and now people act like it's this cultural thing, watching the super bowl for the ads. Is is such a deeply manufactured part of US identity, can people just stop acting like this is an emergent thing due to our love of sports and not just a marketing hoax back to front?

* The Conjuring 4 will be the last film in the main franchise, so I assume a lot of spin offs and stuff. I need to see where I am in that franchise. Might be fun to be caught up when that drops. Conjuring is one of their series that's sliced up over various streaming services and it's a mess. Since they also migrate I've been trying to catch them when it comes with my current subs rather than like buy copies... especially since digital copies aren't forever, just ask people with digital copies of Funimation stuff these days!

Also, the original Conjuring house was bought by investors to sell spooky experiences to influencers and it's a whole thing. Some of the employees even have a paranormal side-grift. There has been some recent drama that I don't even know about. Someone needs to make a masterpost about Conjuring house drama and I feel like I might have to give in and do it when I've got time.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

I had heard just how many of the ads were done by the same marketing team/company, but don't think I knew just HOW much of it they did! It doesn't surprise me, though.

It's batshit to me that people treat fucking *ads* - the thing I generally loathe and do what I can to avoid to the maximum extent possible - as fucking *news.* Marketing the ads themselves feels like as much marketing nonsense going on as goes into said ads. Such weird, artificial feeling hype.

Ooh, that sounds like drama! They were on-site staff and now... they have it as an upcoming visit? That sounds like a conflict of interest, if they've scrubbed mention of being staff, OR it sounds like there's A Story There on what happened...

Sorry to open (or help open) the "track it down" can of worms. Don't get distracted from writing!

That really sucks about the whole funding thing. I've never really utilized Twitch, but I've heard rumblings about it elsewhere as well, and how it sounds like there are a lot of creators on there who are getting screwed in some fashion. :/

[olivermoss]

Yeah, there are layers to marketing. It's not just the ads, it's normalizing putting up with them and so much more!

Nah, it's fine. I have a big knowledge base about this. I've done things like make the local info packets for World Horror Con. It'll take some time but I should starting putting all this info somewhere.

Yeah, it's rough for creators. A different merch store also left a lot of people in the lurch because they grew their business on the idea that 2020-21 spending habits and consumption of new media would continue into 23-24 and no, that is not how the world works. I hope he pulls it out. I'd like my favorite biracial bisexual paranormal he/they to make it, but also if he only gets to do 3 seasons of his dream project that also isn't a tragedy. But the community money going everywhere but where it was supposed to suuuuucks.

[mistressofmuses]

Normalizing putting up with ads, acting like ads themselves are *worth* watching for their own sake, capitalizing on FOMO because "of course these ads are going to be what people are talking about at work, you don't want to have NOT seen them shilling things at you, do you???"

It's info worth collecting!

Oh geez, I remember you talking about that merch situation, and how people were getting screwed on things, including stuff that had already been paid for. A LOT of media (and other) companies seemed just SHOCKED that the growth they experienced during 2020-2021 wasn't sustainable and didn't continue growing at the same pace.

I do hope he makes it! I can only imagine how tough it is to have to pivot to a new platform. I'm glad he's gotten to do said dream project... but it'd be great if he had the chance to do more of it! The community funding not going where it was intended to go is veeeeeery shitty though.

[olivermoss]

Honestly I'll feel better for having the info somewhere and collected. Also, if I ever want to reference it, it's right there.

Yeah, seeing a creator take but hits like that is just rough. But, he's also pretty determined. Since youtube is evergreen content even if it's not doing great now, it should continue to make money. Pre-pandemic he was in a full time touring band that was self produced, so he knows how to manage the finance side of things. (Glasslands, band is still around, making music and videos, but only rarely tours). So, hopefully he can pull this off, but yeah, the situation is rough

[mistressofmuses]

Multiple good reasons for having the info collected in one good place!

Yeah. That's a good point - youtube does allow stuff to have pretty long legs sometimes, and it's nice that people can newly discover the content at any time. Sounds like he's better set up to do this sort of thing than some people (having some good experience with creative projects and the financials thereof.)

The situation sounds rough everywhere. Lots of companies (and platforms) seem to be floundering in some way.