Lego boulder threatens civilization. Update: ugh, "stealth" viral campaign.
Jacob Appelbaum was one of many folks who went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and hated it. About this internet video, in which a giant Lego-covered styrofoam boulder hurls towards hapless victims, he says, "I was happy to see that someone else was as nostalgic as me." UPDATE: oh nooooooes, we have been duped by a sneaky viral marketing campaign. I HATE YOU INTERNET MARKETERS. Take this conversation and shove it.
BB commenter MGABRYSSF explains,
It's viral from the Sausalito marketing group "Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners". The YouTube account holder google's to an "office food blog" which shows him in the background of BSSP. They have the LucasArts games account. They're located on Liberty Way which I've worked in the same building and recognized it from the photos. As soon as I revealed this on the YouTube comments section I got blocked and the posts were deleted. The initial "behind the scenes" photo on flickr was also taken down. It was CC so I mirrored it on Flickr and attributed the owner (as per CC guidelines). Of course - he had kittens over that. He claimed that Gizmodo violated Creative Commons and some such bullshit. Gizmodo also linked to the source so that's a stretch of an excuse. Fuck the phonies.Commenter Agent86 adds,
Also, they lied and said it was a million legos, or something along those lines - that would have been impressive. As it is, it looks like they took an hour or so to glue a few hundred legos to the outside of some garbage - not so impressive. I say we smash their cars with a giant rubber-band ball!Yeah. 5 stars for execution, it's a great video -- but 5 star-neutralizing black holes of righteous and wrathful internet scorn for being douchey. (also spotted on Laughing Squid)
the latest
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I saw the new one and liked it quite a lot actually. It's silly, of course, but that never bothered me watching the others, so whatever.
I was happy to see that someone else was as nostalgic as me
What, the marketers for the film?
possibly viral
Suspected to be an advertisement masquerading as a genuine DIY prank.
See here:
http://sfcitizen.com/blog/2008/05/21/was-the-giant-lego-boulder-video-actually-produced-by-teak-motion-visuals/
and here:
http://laughingsquid.com/giant-lego-boulder-chases-indiana-jones-down-san-francisco-hill/
If indeed that is the case, such crass corporate carpetbagging and lifestyle co-opting should be ignored, rather than validated with further traffic.
I saw it. I liked it.
Totally a LEGO ad masquerading as viral.
And Indy 4 was lame. Re-watching the original trilogy, the sequels are also kinda lame compared to Raiders.
Agreed, those internet marketers are TERRIBLE. How DARE they make something that we found briefly enjoyable.
Mattymatt, yes, and I for one am OUTRAGED. Stupid viral videos on youtube should remain pure from the toxic influence of filthy filthy lucre! That is actually a quote from Jean-Luc Godard, a French livejournal user who made black-and-white viral videos in the 1960s.
how do you convince your insurance agent that your car was, in fact, really dented by a giant lego boulder?
also, i thought indy 4 was ok -- a perfectly enjoyable popcorn flick. it could have been better, but still, there's no way it could have approached or beaten the love the original 3 have. the expectations were too high!
Xeni, you're leave me breathless.
I'm less outraged by the viral marketing than I am by the fact that it's filled with styrofoam.
Foam? Really? No I'm outraged as well.
I'm afraid so. Link (via Gizmodo)
It would have to be filled with something light and stiff. That much solid plastic would weigh tons. Nearly as much as a genuine boulder.
It's viral from the Sausalito marketing group "Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners". The YouTube account holder google's to an "office food blog" which shows him in the background of BSSP. They have the LucasArts games account. They're located on Liberty Way which I've worked in the same building and recognized it from the photos.
As soon as I revealed this on the YouTube comments section I got blocked and the posts were deleted. The initial "behind the scenes" photo on flickr was also taken down. It was CC so I mirrored it on Flickr and attributed the owner (as per CC guidelines).
Of course - he had kittens over that. He claimed that Gizmodo violated Creative Commons and some such bullshit. Gizmodo also linked to the source so that's a stretch of an excuse.
Fuck the phonies.
I absolutely LOVED the new Indiana Jones movie. I wasn't so happy with the actor who played the son, but it was entertaining and action packed and silly and funny and self-referential.
What more do you want from a serial?
Plus, I saw it at a theater that serves beer, calamari and jalapeno poppers. How much better does life get than that?
Is there anything wrong with it being viral marketing? Seriously, if the video is enjoyable why have your own kittens over it? I'm sure the great minds at BoingBoing Prime are able to avoid being influenced in their purchasing by advertisements, even the rare ad that they like.
ad or not, who gives a shit? I loved it!
@Takuan, you're missing the point -- the problem isn't that the agency posted a beautifully shot and executed ad, or that an ad became a viral video. While I'm not actually "outraged," and having a bit of fun here, I do believe what they did was kind of douchey: post a video in such a manner that they were deliberately trying to hide the fact that it was an ad, and then act like jerks to people who tried to expose that fact in the YT comments section, by deleting their comments and whatnot.
[["We built a huge LEGO boulder and then made our friend dress up as Indy and run from it. Fun times! "]]
Well, no they didn't, they produced an ad.
Another BB reader sent over some emails exchanged with someone at the agency which supports this. It's just smarmy to do that, and feels like exploiting the audience.
It's not on par with, say, dropping nukes on a kindergarten, but it's douchey.
Loved it! Can't wait for part V.
does this qualifies as pre-emptive viral? Hope so!
Also, they lied and said it was a million legos, or something along those lines - that would have been impressive. As it is, it looks like they took an hour or so to glue a few hundred legos to the outside of some garbage - not so impressive.
I say we smash their cars with a giant rubber-band ball!
On the other hand, stealth ads is not something -I, me, myself- like attached to Indy. But that's me and today we live under other -cheapsome- standards.
According to YouTube user JohnKalEl,
"Fake. 1 LEGO brick weighs 2.5 grams. video claims that they used 5 million bricks. 2.5 x 5,000,000 = 12,500,000 grams. 12,500,000 grams = 27 557.782773 lbs, which equals 13.77 tons.
Fez Dude says they used "a million of these". Using that claim, the boulder would then weigh 2.75 tons. Even using the lower value of 2.75 tons, what would a free rolling object of that weight do to the parked vehicle? Fake."
As to the commentator that blamed this ad for "life-style co-opting": Seriously? What lifestyle has been co-opted here? If it's the cliche self-indulgent/hipster/suspended-adolescence lifestyle, frankly it's kinda ripe for parody anyways. Let's enjoy the ad/video for what it is on it's face, and leave it at that. At it's best, it would have just been a silly prank put on youtube anyways...
oh gods! What is wrong with you people!!?? Every film you enjoyed, every commercial you laughed at was pasteboard, greasepaint, styrofoam and tape (LOTS of tape).
Xeni has a good handle on the situation.
I suspect the ad agency in question won't mind getting credit for the fake boulder video a few miles down the road.
But if you want a good IJ/LEGO vid, then check out the real deal. It's homemade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egPgU5kAjKE
but they let us know it was all fake. It would be more like finding out that The Guinness Book of World Records is full of fakes.
This is probably an ad for the upcoming Lego Indiana Jones game, as opposed to the movie.
Who really cares either way...
For anyone who hated the new movie.. I don't know what you wanted that it didn't provide. It was great!
#26
I was just going to post the same link!
@26:
IDCSESU.
Drink up!
I meant @29, obviously
@everyone who doesn't understand why some folks would object to the way the campaign was managed, think of it this way: it's kinda like being rickrolled for money.
IDCSESU.
Sorry for being behind, but I Don't Care So ?
IDCSESU = I don't care so everyone shut up. It's part of the Boing Boing Drinking Game. Get with it, bub.
***Disclaimer - I worked at an ad agency for 3 years and then got the hell out so I could actually animate and composite and draw and so forth, instead of sit in douchey meetings with people I wanted to strangle.***
I used to get mad when I saw advertising masquerading as "real people"-made internet videos. But I am starting to change in the way I feel about this stuff. I think if the video is good and fun enough to *become* viral, then it's source and motivation is, while not quite "irrelevant", then certainly secondary.
Do some of you really think that this is an exploitive thing to do? I mean, advertising agencies are probably the most douchebag-filled buildings in the world, but it's always been that way. Are you people seriously this far behind the times? This is what advertising is becoming, and maintaining a virginal point of view towards it is, in my opinion, akin to the record companies trying to ban home tape recorders in the 60's. This video is NOTHING compared to what's coming. The internet is a place that everyone is going to have to learn to live in, and that includes the corporations that have had their asses kicked by it for about fifteen years now. When they do figure it out, it's going to be in ways like this, and it will only make it more interesting.
I'm not personally so worried about my freewill. My grip on it is not so tenuous. Cleverly hidden ads arent going to turn us into a nation of automatons - well, not boingboing readers, anyhow. :)
Kudos on the new Indy movie from me. It's easily my second favorite after Raiders.
Generally, the people who haven't liked it want to capture lightning in a bottle the second time around and see another Raiders, which ain't gonna happen. If you want to see Raiders, well, they're selling it by the truckload on DVD. :)
-----
I thought the video was stupid even before knowing it was viral marketing tripe.
Hey Miss Jardin, you're promoting underage drinking, here! That's a tasin'!
Gotcha. I know I was around when that when was determined with the new fleet, but I kept thinking "I don't care so noone should" for some reason. Danke.
@Tenn, who said anything about alcohol? This is all we drink around here! LINK TO PUNCHLINE.
Further thoughts - as advertising gets more clever, so do it's targets. It's been going on for about 100 years. The expression "Get with the times, or become part of the past" comes to mind, eh?
Miss Jardin-
Ref: Takuan
Subject: Eternally Inebriated Cephalopod
Body: 'Nuff said.
P.S. Mmm, orange soda.
I was highly entertained by the video in a sort of Barnum & Bailey humbug vibe — I wasn't so happy about the lame cover-up attempt; I saw this story posted in multiple other places but learned first @ Boing Boint that 'twas a fake. The ad company hurt themselves with an unkind reaction to the discovery.
But what the heck is up with the watermelon in this picture?
» http://gizmodo.com/391787/gigantic-million+piece-lego-boulder-actually-has-styrofoam-core
#16
Son!
Indiana Jones!? I don't read comic books that move around and make noise.
@#37 "...akin to the record companies trying to ban home tape recorders in the 60's."
Did this really happen? I had rows of reel to reels taken from vinyl, radio and TV. I don't remember any effort to ban or restrict taping.
@45:
Oh, yeah. "Home Taping Will Kill the Record Industry". Much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Congressional hearings, megabucks spent on advertising campaigns. Fake studies, lies, harassment, more lies. It was akin to - nay, nearly identical to - the present wrangle over file sharing. Those of us who lived through the cassette and VCR wars don't take the present freakout over MP3s very seriously.
It went right by me, ROSS. My Uher and my Wollensak kept busy all throgh the 60s. I guess I'm just a born criminal.
It is not like getting Rickrolled for money.
Rickroll = no fun for the victim
Lego Boulder = good for a chuckle
Besides which, if someone figured out a way to make money off of Rickrolling, I say, more power to them.
@48:
I hope Rick made some money as a result of hundreds of thousands of inadvertent viewings of that video. I don't ever want to see that video again but he has a fine voice.
I never knew who he was until the Rickrolls started rolling. I'm not sure about the fine-ness of his voice. His hair's extra-special though. Here's the BBC article on Rick Astley's life after the Rickroll phenomenon.
you're my favorite bastard
I don't really know that the Rickroll is a good analogy for what's going on here. In the case of the Rickroll, you are promised one thing but given somthing else instead.
In this case (outside of the fact it's implied the boulder is a solid mass of legos), what you see is what you get. A couple of guys roll a big lego-ball down a hill. In fact, everyone here was very entertained until they found out it was a bunch of ad guys doing the rolling.
Would the video have honestly been that much better if it was done by a couple guys with WAY too much time on thier hands?
Ant @50 - Aaaarrrggggghhhhhh!!!!
I was going to go to bed about 15 minutes ago, but NOOOOO, I had to stay up a few minutes more to see what my pals at BB were up to. Never again I tell you!
Indiana, Indiana, me tienes hasta la banana.
I don't get it... Was this supposed to be cool or funny or something before it was "exposed" as "viral?" I think it's pretty lame either way. And are west coast hipsters really wearing fez hats these days? Extra lame. Furthermore, the editing on this is too good to be a home made video. The perfectly recorded and synced audio of the car alarm was a dead giveaway.
This was funny. I was actually there when they filmed this on top of potrerro hill. It was about 3 weeks ago. When they rolled it down the hill loads of legos broke off and the styrofoam was showing big time. Still awesome, but not made of legos
Hey guys, why get your panties in such a bunch? We all gotta work for a living, so what's wrong with people whose job is to come up with inspired, fun, creative things on behalf of their clients actually doing what they're paid to do?
@43:
I wonder if the watermelon is a jokey reference to that ad (for Sony?) featuring lots of fruit rolling down a similar-looking hill in SF.
Or it could be a reference to Buckaroo Banzai. In which case the proper answer to your question would be, "I'll tell you later."
@55:
I think the guys standing around (the bearded guy in the fez, the dude with the bowtie) are supposed to resemble other characters from the IJ films.
@57:
The issue isn't that they made the video, but that they misrepresented it and themselves, and then acted like jerks when they got called on their misrepresentations. I could recast your question as:
"We all gotta work for a living, so what's wrong with people whose job is to lie and cover things up on behalf of their clients actually doing what they're paid to do?"
but then that's kind of self-answering, isn't it.
Thank fuck for that. I thought that Xeni's link at #40 was going to be of her drinking out of one cup with another girl :)
@50. That was a sly one. But I'll get you for that anyway.
#58:
You're thinking of the Bravia ad with the bouncy balls, not fruit. Great commercial, btw, especially with the "Jose Gonzalez does The Knife" soundtrack.
I know postmodernism is all the rage with the kids nowadays, but this argument of "so what if it was an ad, it was entertaining and that's all that matters!" leaves me cold.
Do y'all really feel that it's okay for marketers to to lie to us, as long as they're happy and pleasant lies? Is that all you ask from the internet - some flashy entertainment with just enough veneer of reality to convince you it really happened?
Boing Boing is a directory of wonderful things, and the reason the things fill us with wonder is that they're real. The idea that people create strange and beautiful things on a shoestring budget in their spare time for the love of [whatever] is much more wonderful than the idea that a paid marketing team with a 6-figure budget simulated that appearance to sell a product.
And even if they trick you once, and evoke a feeling of wonder they didn't "deserve", it's diluted a little with every viral marketing campaign. I think our collective suspicion of whether things are real on the internet is gradually growing, and if marketing continues this dishonestly, I think true wonder will become much harder to find on the internet.
brb, I gotta go get a Sprite.
@agent 86: no, a big rock covered with a few rubber bands, but we TELL them it's a rubber band ball!!!!!
honestly, the reason MGABRYSSF was blocked had nothing to do with his search for truth. negative and disparaging comments were allowed throughout the entire process. the problem is he was posting every 10 minutes asking people to go to his Flikr page, really trolling the boards. A quick search on his username will actually reveal that he has been banned from other sites for the same reason, including an Apple fan site.
When a person emplyed by the ad industry prefaces remarks with the word "honestly", feel free to substitute in the word "dishonestly".
Try it, it works!
The creators of the viral don't mind if people speculate on how real it is. What they DO MIND is people pointing out/proving the fakiness of the entire project.
You're digging your hole deeper, Mr. Levy.
dude, go look at the responses. there are plenty of "this is fake" comments. there are plenty of "go to flikr" comments... geee. Mr. Levy? Really?
Go tell it to Lucas, dude. It appears you'll soon have an opportunity to do so.
Who knows, maybe you'll get a bonus and a new contract.
Maybe.
OK - couple of things here at the tail end of this massive dose of irrelevancy -first, what the hell is this an ad for? Lego? Indiana Jones? Infantile 35 year olds? Here's something worth thinking about you advertising dooshes - your campaign might make me weep tears of joy, but if I can't figure out what it is you're selling, you've failed.
Second - was this really that good to begin with? It's kind of a big 'meh' to me. I mean... I could have spent that minute and a half on Suicide Girls- or.. uh.. lolcats... er.. whatever.
Strato,
Thank you! Was I the only one put off by the thought of a bunch of 30-somethings wasting countless days in thier living room assembling a "5-million lego" giant boulder to reanact a 20-y/o movie scene? It sort of made me sad for humanity. I actually feel better knowing that at least it was done for money...
re: MARACATUATOMICO - who is the marketing schmuck posting the marketing drivel on YouTube. Yep - While telecommuting I couldn't help entertaining myself by showcasing the FAKE video with the FAKE agency with a reference (psst - YouTube doesn't do links - another LIE!? Getting pathological are we?) every so often while the comments scrolled it off. Now you're trolling the people who exposed your lie.
Cheap irony is fun!
The amusing part is - I had FUN making references to the photo on Flickr (which note - I didn't mention other than in passing here [aka - I didn't provide a URL or search keyword]) because it's ENTERTAINING turning on the light and watching the roaches scatter. I've had lots of fun with forums that showcase rumor as news or post fakes. AppleInsider is not a fan of this either. But - of course - it's fun.
I suspect MARACATUATOMICO has a little more at stake in all this to have his knickers in a bunch. This - for me - is also fun.
The bottom line - I too - worked in advertising (12 years liberated from) and if you really - REALLY want to annoy the crap out of an "addie" - it helps to have walked among the zombies in the past. Gives you a roadmap for that all-important vein they keep under high pressure on the top of their foreheads - and how to poke at it.
Fun.
wow man. you lost me. this is all pretty silly. never mentioned links here did I? you my friend are a seeker of truth and savior of us all. glad you had fun. this was really all we wanted. people to have fun with it, no evil machinations behind it. the plan was always to come clean, and that will happen.
really, i apologize to all of you that felt so offended and duped by this. plenty of other viral ads out there, no?
@71, mgabrysSF:
For the record, MaracatuAtomico is correct in saying that there are dozens of posts on the YouTube page (from days ago) commenting on the fact this this is viral marketing and that the ball could not have been made up entirely of Lego blocks. So I see no reason that he would block your posts for that reason alone. It seems perfectly reasonable, then, that your posts may have been removed for spamming reasons.
That said, I have no problem with the fact that this was an ad campaign, but I do dislike the blatant falsehood re the number of lego blocks used. If you don't want people to know that there's a styrofoam ball under there, don't tell them, but don't lie about 5 million blocks....
re:there are dozens of posts on the YouTube page (from days ago) commenting on the fact this this is viral marketing
For the record (oh goodie - a chance to nitpick the obvious!)
Go back a few pages in the Youtube comments before the boingboing post appeared. Nothing but happy gawkers, and not one critic. AND - in the last few days (at least) one person who thanked him for deleting his posts. Anyone who said "fake" without proof was left alone. Anyone who hinted at people where to look - flickr, gizmodo, etc or mentioned the agency by name was nuked. Then "magically" it stopped a day or so ago. Probably shortly after the post mentioning BoingBoing was put there and he began trolling here.
But why spend your days being an unpaid apologist for marketers SAMSAM? You could always apply to BSSP and be paid for your time helping the good cause that is YouTube and cultural spam. And I already admitted to having fun spamming spam. 'S'fun!
But hold your horses - since I'm killing time getting tits for tats in - let's nitpick the schmuck's troll line by line shall we?
MARACATUATOMICO: wow man. you lost me.
(somehow I believe this is probably a normal occurrence in his life)
MARKETINGSUXMICO: this is all pretty silly. never mentioned links here did I?
(No, but he sure got here in a hurry to defend himself in a pathetic exercise in trolling his crap once it was exposed. And here's a logic-train derailment - why mention a link when his video is at the top of the freaking page?)
MARACATUATOMICO is another viral name - it's a fucking band: you my friend are a seeker of truth and savior of us all.
(Good to know he's not pissed off at me in his smarmy California passive aggressive marketing bullshit speak - oh wait - that's his native language. Sorry my bad)
MARACATUATOMICO the marketing douche: glad you had fun.
(more passive-aggressive bullshit - but I sure did - and still am! Watching people take up the torch and say the same things I did in spite of occasional deletions on an ongoing basis since the boingboing post makes me all fuzzy inside)
MARACATUATOMICO eats babies with selantro - because everything in CA has too much selantro on it godammit): this was really all we wanted. people to have fun with it, no evil machinations behind it.
(All you wanted was money. As far as evil - misrepresentation is pretty much business as usual for those with blown ethics fuses - but for the rest of us - BAD MARKETING WEASEL BAD NAUGHTY MARKETING WEASEL.)
MACACATUATOMICO: the plan was always to come clean, and that will happen.
(I think it already happened whether you liked it or not. And here's one for the clue-train - fuck your imagined intentions and hyperbole)
MARACATUATOMICOMARAMMADINGDONG: really, i apologize to all of you that felt so offended and duped by this. plenty of other viral ads out there, no?
(plenty without you pinching another turd for the pool - but that makes it ok by your logic. Hey - those other viral marketing videos suck! We can suck better than that! - and as for apologizing - no you didn't, and blow me. That also applies for the rest of the China-style apologists and marketing schmucks creeping in here doing spin-control. Here's to the karma hammer that's waiting in the wings for ya. I'll be the one in the front row with the popcorn when it comes down.)
wow.
Got last-word'itis PR troll-schmuck MARACATUATOMICOOCOOFORCOCOAPUFFS? Well I won't stoop to that infantile nonsense. No sir - not me.
No, wait...
Fell into a marketing trap again! FUCK!
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