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* 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.
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.
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Date: 2024-02-10 12:31 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-02-10 12:46 am (UTC)From:I get the appeal of a cast reunion used for product promo and stuff like that but overall, it's just so weird to me
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Date: 2024-02-10 06:17 am (UTC)From:That Cetaphil one sounds horrid, though.
But fucking thank you. The whole "you just watch it for the ads, tee hee!" thing feels like such a weird thing. I hear it everywhere, yet it feels so... weird and hollow. They're just... commercials. I've never known anyone who ACTUALLY "watches it for the commercials", but everyone SAYS it's a thing. I don't know.
Same as fucking "elf on a shelf" at Xmas, being treated as some beloved generational tradition. NO IT FUCKING ISN'T.
I had not heard that Conjuring 4 was definitely the last main film! Though I know there were a couple planned spinoffs that haven't materialized yet (The Crooked Man?), plus the Annabelle and Nun side series.
I hate how you can't reliably watch a whole franchise anymore because of the way they get passed around and divvied up on streaming. I think I've seen everything in the Conjuring "universe", though not necessarily recently.
But oh, I remember you mentioning the thing about the house being purchased with the aim of selling "haunted" experiences or whatever. Sounds RIFE with drama!
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Date: 2024-02-10 07:43 am (UTC)From:Growing up knowing a bit how the sausage is made with advertising has had a slight effect on my outlook on life.
Elf on the Shelf is creepy and should die. Yeah, such a push to normalize that weirdness.
The Paranormal Couple are staff at the house.... or were? Why is it gone from their bios and why do they have 'overnight at the Conjuring house' as an upcoming event for them? They were the on-site staff until at least recently? Are they... no more?
This is a 2 hour video essay tearing down Sam and Colby's investigation of the house, Sam and Colby have videos with views in the 15-23million range. Ryan and Shane got that range back on Buzzfeed, but now on Watcher they get more like 2-3m. (Note: I don't actually recc that video unless you have time to kill. It's good if you want a super detailed breakdown but honestly the core info could have been a much shorter video)
And my brain is going into full 'track things down' mode. Nope, must write fic instead.
Meanwhile, Detune's Paranormal Detour is huge on twitch but struggles to break 10k on youtube. Hopefully that turns around this year with his new editor. Twitch is his natural habitat and he doesn't really get youtube, so hopefully he can keep Linda on for a while. Twitch was going to help fund the show, until the massive downsizing. Fans bought merch to fund S3, with with SCP going under he will never get the money we raised. (Not just him, top 40 artists, Markiplier, etc are all in the same boat, but it sucks that we raised a lot for S3 and the money is being legally taken). Not to get into the weeds on that but he's very much down but not out and if he can keep Linda for a while S3 might still be big for him.
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Date: 2024-02-11 03:04 am (UTC)From: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. :/
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Date: 2024-02-11 10:42 am (UTC)From: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.
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Date: 2024-02-13 06:13 am (UTC)From: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.
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Date: 2024-02-13 09:14 pm (UTC)From: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
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Date: 2024-02-14 04:40 am (UTC)From: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.
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Date: 2024-02-10 01:02 pm (UTC)From: