# Sony Pictures: fearmongering for profit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 8, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093 "2009-06-08T14:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/1 "2009-06-08T14:27:28Z")
So according to the blog entry below, Sony Pictures has created an amusing viral web site that promotes the idea that the world is GOING TO END in 2012. Complete with fake scientists, a fake lottery people can enter to be among the few survivors, et cetera. What a bunch of wankers. This kind of shite is passed on enough by the true believers, who at least have the excuse of being deluded themselves. Major marketing departments joining the fun to help create “buzz” for a movie? Assholes. > **[Sony Pictures and the end of the world](https://mikebrownsplanets.com/2009/06/sony-pictures-and-end-of-world.html)** > > Based on all the email inquiries that I’ve been getting lately, it seems pretty clear that the world is going to end in 2012, and it is at l... ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/2 "2009-06-08T14:30:30Z")
Do you work for Sony Pictures? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/3 "2009-06-08T14:33:35Z")
Yes, I realize that flaming someone for putting up a site creates further “buzz”. Ooh, ooh, I’ve fallen into their trap! I’m a tool of the system! Woe is me. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/4 "2009-06-08T14:38:06Z")
Oh, come on. If mainstream science had really accepted the idea that the world would end in 2012, anyone who thought they’d hear about it first on a website they’ve never visited _deserves_… whatever is going to happen to them. And just what _is_ going to happen, eh? Think somebody is going to start hoarding canned tuna? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/5 "2009-06-08T14:52:30Z")
Because deliberately increasing the world’s level of ignorance is bad. And obviously people will be fooled, and some of them will just have a moment’s panic before they figure out they’d been fooled, and others of them will have to be talked down by one of their net-savvy, straght dope- or snopes-reading younger relatives, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/6 "2009-06-08T14:55:12Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Because deliberately increasing the world’s level of ignorance is bad. And obviously people will be fooled, and some of them will just have a moment’s panic before they figure out they’d been fooled, and others of them will have to be talked down by one of their net-savvy, straght dope- or snopes-reading younger relatives, and so on. The people who fall for this are the same people who won’t buy gas at a Chevron on Thursday (to show the oil companies they mean business, of course), or believe in the Lotus Boob, or get surprised when they order a product for an informercial and it’s useless. This “hoax” isn’t going to increase the world’s level of ignorance. It’s just going to exploit it. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/7 "2009-06-08T15:09:01Z")
For the record, the link in the OP hosed my system. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/8 "2009-06-08T15:10:21Z")
Eh, it’s Sony. They probably needed a hobby to pass the time between distributing rootkits and sacrificing small children to the Elder Gods. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/9 "2009-06-08T15:23:19Z")
Sony Pictures owns Jeopardy! I hope they call me and \*\*jayjay \*\*before then. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/10 "2009-06-08T15:35:24Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The people who fall for this are the same people who won’t buy gas at a Chevron on Thursday (to show the oil companies they mean business, of course), or believe in the Lotus Boob, or get surprised when they order a product for an informercial and it’s useless. Are you saying you DON’T worship at the Altar of the Lotus Boob? -A True Believer ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/11 "2009-06-08T15:38:44Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Are you saying you DON’T worship at the Altar of the Lotus Boob? > > -A True Believer I get massively squicked out at the altar of the Lotus Boob. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/12 "2009-06-08T15:43:19Z")
I was about to jump in with something about how even stupid and ignorant people - \*especially \*stupid and ignorant people - should not be cynically and cruelly exploited to sell movie tickets, but I decided to actually look at the site first. The first “news” story is about White House Chief of Staff Carl Annheuser and President Helmsley Wilson - fat, white President Helmsley Wilson. The home page has a “copyright Sony Pictures” notice on it and rather prominent links to a conventional promo site for the movie and another for the novel on which it was based. This seems much less likely a deliberate deception than many other viral marketing sites I’ve seen. The fact that some people do seem to take it seriously is not evidence of wrongdoing on Sony’s part. Experience on this very board has taught me that now matter how obvious you think a joke is, \*someone \*will take it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/13 "2009-06-08T16:03:55Z")
I watched \*Armeggedon \*on a movie channel last night. Imagine how pissed off I was when I found out that I’d been duped and there really \*wasn’t \*a giant asteroid about to blow up the planet. Who the fuck do these people think they are? Fucking fear-mongerers. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/14 "2009-06-08T16:32:10Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I watched \*Armeggedon \*on a movie channel last night. Imagine how pissed off I was when I found out that I’d been duped and there really \*wasn’t \*a giant asteroid about to blow up the planet. Who the fuck do these people think they are? Fucking fear-mongerers. Really? Every time I see it, I get pissed off that Bruce Willis wasn’t left on the asteroid. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/15 "2009-06-08T17:44:39Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Experience on this very board has taught me that now matter how obvious you think a joke is, \*someone \*will take it seriously. I don’t think that’s entirely true. I have seen some jokes made here that were very obviously joking in nature, and I saw no evidence whatsoever that anyone really believed that there was a grasshopper named Steve (for instance). Please try to think more carefully before you post in the future. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/16 "2009-06-08T18:51:40Z")
> [@Redwing](#): > > Really? Every time I see it, I get pissed off that Bruce Willis wasn’t left on the asteroid. Pssst. He _was_ left on the asteroid… ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/17 "2009-06-08T18:52:52Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > So according to the blog entry below, Sony Pictures has created an amusing viral web site that promotes the idea that the world is GOING TO END in 2012. > > Complete with fake scientists, a fake lottery people can enter to be among the few survivors, et cetera. > > What a bunch of wankers. This kind of shite is passed on enough by the true believers, who at least have the excuse of being deluded themselves. Major marketing departments joining the fun to help create “buzz” for a movie? Assholes. > > [http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/2009/06/sony-pictures-and-end-of-world.html](http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/2009/06/sony-pictures-and-end-of-world.html) I don’t think you’re a stick-up-your-ass killjoy; I think you just wanted to do a pitting and, in your excitement to post, came up with this ill-conceived claptrap which ended up being _ **quite lame.** _ Better luck next time! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/18 "2009-06-08T19:01:34Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Pssst. He _was_ left on the asteroid… No. Harry Stamper was. Bruce Willis went on to make _Breakfast of Champions_ and _Disney’s The Kid_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/19 "2009-06-08T19:12:52Z")
I heard on the radio that the Martians are attacking!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093/20 "2009-06-09T00:07:18Z")
Never trust anything from Sony. This company Pirates the LAME mp3 encoder, while hypocritically campaigning against piracy, and uses the stolen (they consider it theft so by their words they stole) property on cds with rootkits on them. Would you steal a LAME CD from the store? Sony would. Sony= mass piracy cite: [http://www.the-interweb.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/52-Is-Sony-in-violation-of-the-LGPL-Part-II.html](http://www.the-interweb.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/52-Is-Sony-in-violation-of-the-LGPL-Part-II.html) Then the the stupid CEO, leading his band of morons too incompetent to get a job at a better company that doesn’t engage in mass piracy announces “nothing good has came from the internet”. Apparently he feels the LAME encoder is good, making him extra stupid, or he didn’t get it from the internet. He must have hired actual burglars to break into the house of LAME devs and copy the encoder off their computers in person. Making him extra criminal. Either way the only thing worse then the Sony CEO are the morons who believe OP’s link. Fortunately there is very few. Unfortunetly the OP is prolly giving them viral marketing exposure of some kind. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-pictures-fearmongering-for-profit/499093.md?page=2)