Ok, so I understand that conventional marketing that has been used for decades doesn't work on consumers of today. We need artists to catch our eye in creative ways. But this article I found http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1552470/20070215/nine_inch_nails.jhtml claims that Nine Inch Nail's new marketing tactic unveils government conspiracies that involve contaminating the water with Parepin to protect citizens from bioterror attacks but instead has harsh side effects. The website that claims this got attention when fans took the letters that were highlighted on NIN tour date tshirts that spell out to say "I am trying to believe" and googling the phrase, leading them to this conspiracy site. It started catching on oh so conveniently just as NIN was set to release their new album Year Zero. The website also leads to similar sites, that include pictures of earth as a barren wasteland, raids on Muslim homes in Michigan, and a website by a sniper. If you try and email the author of the website it sends back an automated message saying how it was "all a mistake. the water is fine" blah blah.
OOOoo sounds cryptic right? You think that the government got a hold of this guy and made him change his story? Do you fall for these government conspiracies left and right? I'm pretty sure that the government did get invovled by reprimanding some nut for making claims against the government so he couldn't influence anymore vulnerable ( or stupid) people. And for those other website, its turns out that they are part of a reality game by a marketing company named 42 Entertainment who sent out vials of honey to create "buzz" for the new Halo video game. Naturally NIN only says that they were inspired by"crazy dreams" they had, and how the album takes place in the future and its not pretty.
The only thing that makes me angry about this is that its playing on people's insecurities and doubts about our government. Most people have a very negative view of our government, who's in office and the war in Iraq. People are so quick to jump on the bandwagon to complain about the government, especially impressionable adolescents like the ones how listen to, oh..i don't know...NINE INCH NAILS. These people who are making these website are oh so convenietly anonomyous and have no proof of what they claim. Come on, its one thing to create some hype for your album with a back story and internet rumors, its another thing to accuse our government, who i admit hasn't been the most trustworthy, of intentionally harming us.
What do you think? you think we're drinking contaminated water and NIN did us a favor by notifying us?
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1 comment:
interesting articles but the nine inch nails one is almost a year old
and it's not the new halo game that had the honey (for their alternate reality game called I Love Bees) - it was Halo 2 I think - again more than a year old
so no credit for the music one
5/10
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