Trent Reznor's Kinda-Clever Viral Marketing Stunt

It's actually not just a stunt; it's an attempt a multimedia experience/hoax/alternate world fiction.

Is it any good? Ehhhhh... I always kind of like the idea of these things better than the execution. Same here. I was bored by the first "blog" about the year 2022 and the onset of the dark night of fascism (having finally actually landed in America!).

David Ross explains what this is (and, by the way, it's kinda old, but still ongoing):

I've recently been listening to NIN's new CD, "Year Zero". It's a soundtrack to a series of websites, scattered around the Internet, detailing life in what we'd call 2022 AD after Global Warming has shifted the temperate zones northward and drowned the coastal cities. The US Government has bombed Tehran, invaded Syria, arrested a bunch of people and doused the water supply with stupid sauce. It's a general Red State phantasmagoria about what they imagine the Blue States want. And no critics are awarding any points for guessing to whom the song "Capital G" is dedicated.

As an Easter Egg hunt and as a musical experiment, it's interesting enough; as a publicity stunt, based on the sudden spike of NIN shirts around here it seems to be working; as a work of imaginative fiction, it's been done many dozens of times before.

Although, of course, Trent Reznor is very, very scared about the mean Republicans imposing fascism on America, the basic idea is interesting, and, frankly, it's always been the right that's had the most to fear from fascism and totalitarianism; generally the left becomes pretty big supporters of fascism and totalitarianism the moment it sees the chance for payback against their "oppressors."

It's not that they object to fascism in principle; they just want to whine loud enough to make sure they're included when the RSVP's are sent out.

So, while his specific politics may be stupid, hell, it's not like a conservative can't enjoy a creepy dystopian fantasy about American fascism. (And by "enjoy," no, I don't mean "enjoy" as in spanking myself to the idea. Have to note this from the many leftist bloggers who have nothing better to do than monitor the AoSHQ site.)

Is it any good? Well, you can decide. As I said, I was already bored halfway down the first page of the first "blog," but who knows, maybe you'll appreciate it more.

More of the websites connected with this hoax/unconventional "novel" here, as well as some background on how some of the hints and Easter eggs were revealed.

There was a CSI: NY episode just like this -- including the bit about Easter Egg messages/codes on t-shirts. Not sure which came first.

Eh. There's potential in the idea, I guess.

Eeesh... The self-congratulatory impulse of lefties just never, ever ends.

This page notes the answers given by a drug company (recognized by the "Department of Morality" as "Family and Country First Corporation") selling some sort of sedative for the sheeple. You take the on-line quiz and it tells you if you can benefit from the drug.

Most answers, of course, indicate you should take it. But if you score too high, you get these messages:

Scores: 41, 42 Your profile has been submitted to certain government authorities. You may be offered a choice between prison and certain kinds of public service. You will be contacted shortly.

Scores: 39, 40
You have triggered an automatic rapid response. Please wait quietly where you are and surrender to authorities when they arrive. The next few days may not be pleasant. Remember to ask the first responders for fast-acting Prozira "spikes". Generic substitutes are NOT the same! Lawyers, cells, and interrogations are all triggers for anxiety in many people. "Make Them Go Away" - with Prozira.

Scores: 36, 37, 38
Drink the water. Take Prozira. Your life will be better that way. We mean it.

Anyone want to bet you have to pretty much answer in the perfect leftist-conformist way to get that "dreaded" response calling you so independent-thinking you're designated a precrime enemy of the state?

And anyone want to bet against the test being rigged so that sensitive Goth nonconformist uberconformists will have little trouble easily dinging that bell?

This is particularly crude. Not just in terms of how silly it is -- how crudely imagined this dystopia is -- but crude and blatant in flattering the liberal sensibilities of the intended audience.

Surely they realize they're being blantatly, embarrassingly pandered to. Or are they not smart enough to realize that?

Or are they just so big on having their moral vanities stroked they don't care how crude and flagrant the pandering is?

Snark: Hippolytus writes:

This is a step up from the previous NIN easter egg hunts where you listen to one of his albums and count how many times he ripped off his far more talented peers. (Skinny Puppy, RevCo, Numb, Coil, Cabaret Voltaire, etc., etc., etc.)

I'm going to agree 100% with that, because it seems like a pretty hip thing to agree with. Not that I could name a single song by any of those bands.

posted by Ace at 08:26 PM

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