Slasher flicks have always appealed to the basest parts of human beings. The recent spate of torture porn has managed to lower that standard so far that Mengele would blush and turn away. Sitting atop the heap of torture porn is the Saw franchise which is about to release its fifth installment (please, no more).

Well, it seems that not only can the filmmakers butcher their dialogue and plotlines as easily as their actors, they can also mangle their marketing efforts.

Check this story out: Saw is promoting itself with a web app that allows people to send creepy phone messages threatening murder and mutilation. The police have had to respond and have issued a warning about this stupid, reckless, hairbrained marketing gimick. I wonder if the producers will get invoiced for 9-1-1 nuisance calls.

I’m all for marketing and publicity efforts that get people talking, but not if it gets them talking to the cops.

This is why having a public relations agency is important. You don’t get stupid gaffes like this.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Advertising, branding, blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.