Monday, February 20, 2017
Wk 6 EOC: Fake News
Last week it was brought to light that 20th Century fox and Regency
Enterprises were attempting to mislead consumers with fake news to boost ticket
sales for their new physiological thriller opening this weekend, A Cure for
Wellness. The marketing team working on the film took a wrong turn with their
plan and hired a fake news creator to make real-sounding newspaper websites,
like the Salt Lake City Guardian and the Houston Leader, to post fake news.
They posted controversial and anger stirring news that within connected the
content to the new film. “The made-up stories had only oblique references to
director Gore Verbinski’s film.” The fake websites and article reached tens of thousands
of people who then shared it with many more. "In raising awareness for our
films, we do our best to push the boundaries of traditional marketing in order
to creatively express our message to consumers. In this case, we got it
wrong." Studio spokesman Dan Berger said. This route taken by the marketing
team can be considered as deceptive marketing, and has been seen that way by
other marketing industry professionals and public consumers. “Lynn Walsh, the
president of the Society of Professional Journalists, said in an email that
corporations had a responsibility to engage in “the ethical and responsible
sharing of information no matter the intent or purpose.”” She went on to state
some valuable information and possible resolution for the fake news epidemic. “In
this country, we have the right to speak and publish information freely, and
that’s a good thing,” Ms. Walsh said. “But if someone or a company is
publishing incorrect information and trying to make it pass as actual news, we
think that content should be properly labeled and very explicit that it is not
true and does not contain actual facts.”
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