Is marketing that plays on misery a dead end?

Viewers who have seen similar "pitiable" clips have become "rebellious" and said they no longer want to be "morally kidnapped" by film and television publicity. How should pitiable marketing develop? This article will analyze it for you based on a case study. If you are interested, you can learn more.

College students who love to "do something fun" have become restless again recently.

The story account @小叮当的合作伙伴, which is composed of four male college students, recently shot a short film like this:

On the set of the movie "A Lonely Life", an actor kept eating French fries with soy sauce. He only needed to do it once, but he did it many times for the sake of performance effect. Afterwards, the actor instinctively wanted to vomit, but he still swallowed it hard.

He ate the French fries and soy sauce combination that most people could not accept again and again. Every time, he stuffed it into his mouth without hesitation and tried hard to swallow it. Even without ketchup, he could still eat it. After the performance, everyone applauded him, but the actor thanked the director team for treating him to French fries.

This seemingly strange clip is actually a "remake" of the scene in which Zhang Yixing eats toilet paper from "All or Nothing" in order to mock the "misery" marketing of theater movies that has been popular recently on short video platforms.

According to Kass's observation, this clip had sparked a discussion on Douyin before. So far, the original clip released by the official account has received 1.137 million likes and 87,000 comments.

At the beginning, everyone's focus was on the actors' dedication to their jobs. But as the crew continued to use "misery marketing" on Douyin, the online public opinion gradually changed. The audience who watched similar "misery marketing" clips again and again became "rebellious" and said that they did not want to be "morally kidnapped" by film and television publicity. At the same time, some creators like @小叮当的合作伙伴 also began to mock such behavior through "secondary creation".

It is not just All or Nothing that is “selling misery” on short videos. Recently well-received theater movies such as The Legend of the Gods and She Vanished have not escaped the accusation of “selling misery marketing”. In addition to such “professional teams”, Kass observed that many ordinary creators on the platform are also gaining traffic and attention by “selling misery”.

Is the “selling misery” business so easy to do?

1. Why are cinema movies taking the path of “selling misery” in short videos?

The “selling misery” marketing of theater movies on short video platforms can be traced back to the release of “A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix” in 2016.

At that time, due to its niche subject matter, "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" was squeezed out by other films of the same period, and its screening rate was very bleak. The national overall screening rate was only about 1%, and the box office in its first week was only 3 million.

Under such circumstances, Fang Li, the producer of "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix", suddenly "knelt down on the spot" during the live broadcast, begging the audience to go to the cinema to support and give "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" a chance. At the same time, he "appealed" to major cinemas, begging them to increase the number of screenings.

It is impossible to verify how many viewers bought movie tickets during the live broadcast, but the story of "the film producer kneeling down to beg for box office support during live broadcast" quickly became popular under the reports of major media. Subsequently, many theaters including Bona, Huayi, Star Media, Lumiere, UME, Wanda and others increased the screening schedule, and many stars including Yao Chen, Xu Zheng, Dapeng, Zhou Dongyu and others also took the initiative to speak out to support "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix".

Data shows that after that, the screening rate of "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" "rebounded", rising from about 1% to 4.5%, and the number of viewers also increased significantly. After the release, the total box office of the movie reached 86.75 million. Such results are very good for this niche art film.

It is worth noting that the producer’s kneeling not only saved “A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix”, but also gave many people a “new idea” for short video marketing of cinema films. At that time, someone in the industry joked that in the future, when promoting niche films, everyone should kneel down in groups.

We all know what happened later. Although the scene of "kneeling in a group" did not appear, the marketing tactics of "selling misery in various ways" for theater movies are endless.

Some of them pulled the entire crew to "cry bitterly", expressing how difficult it was for the film to be successfully released, and emphasized that "although we don't know how to market, the quality of the work is definitely worth seeing."

In 2017, the youth campus movie "Flash Girl" was released, but because of the previously released trailers, posters, costumes and props, including the slightly childish title, many people directly classified it as a "bad movie", and its box office performance was very unsatisfactory.

On the fifth day of the release, the crew released a new poster that quickly went viral. In the photo, seven publicity and promotion staff members lined up, kneeling on the ground and holding up signs that read "I asked for the screening schedule," "I edited the trailer," "I made the poster," and "I came up with the title," taking the blame, apologizing sincerely and expressing the hope that everyone "would not miss a good movie because of the title and poster."

In addition, if there is a well-known figure in the creative team, the responsibility of using emotion to "sell misery" will naturally fall on him.

In 2022, the domestic sci-fi mecha movie "The Tomorrow Battle" produced by Louis Koo was released, but domestic sci-fi films have never been trusted by the audience. Even with well-known actors such as Louis Koo and Andy Lau joining, the audience is still not interested, and the film's reputation and box office are not optimistic.

In order to reverse the decline, Louis Koo began to frequently appear in live broadcast rooms, film festivals and other occasions to promote the movie, but what really made "The Battle at Days End" popular was a short video that was "secretly filmed" by his team during the promotional period.

In the video, Louis Koo was looking at the box office of the film with a dejected look on his face. His face was full of grievance, disappointment, and unwillingness. He even secretly wiped away tears several times. But when the staff notified him to go on stage, he immediately adjusted his expression and started a new round of publicity.

The huge contrast between Louis Koo's on-stage and behind-the-scenes appearance in the video is already moving, and coupled with the sensational copy and music, this promotional video quickly went viral and became a hot topic on Tik Tok at the time.

This short video successfully won a lot of sympathy and attention for the film. "The world is so cruel, there is no reward for 10 years of hard work", "Louis Koo has protected the dreams of so many children, this time it is our turn to protect his dream", "Watching foreign science fiction blockbusters may be more enjoyable, but they will not build Hope Primary Schools for our children"... and other remarks appeared in the comment section of "The Battle at Days of Tomorrow", and the film's screening rate and attendance rate also ushered in a "counter-trend" growth.

For example, the film "The Investiture of the Gods", which performed well in the summer season, did not attract much attention from the public when it was first released. However, during an interview, director Wuershan's confession, "If it fails, I may have to pay off my debts in 10 years," quickly spread on Douyin. After hearing this, many viewers walked into the cinema out of sympathy, and after watching the film, they became "tap water" for "The Investiture of the Gods" and promoted it vigorously.

Of course, the most common way of "selling misery" adopted by major film promotion and marketing teams is, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, by cutting out clips of actors sacrificing themselves for the movie during filming, they establish their professional image while winning the sympathy and favor of the audience.

The increase in box office figures may prove that the path of "selling misery" marketing for cinema movies is correct. On the one hand, as an important platform for speaking out, short videos can indeed attract the attention of the public, thus solving the problem of some films having fewer screenings due to niche themes or low-profile production teams;

On the other hand, in addition to solving the practical problem of screening rate, "selling misery" can also win the sympathy of more ordinary audiences, which is conducive to building a good reputation for the film and attracting more people to be interested in the film.

2. “Selling misery” becomes the traffic code of “ordinary people”

In fact, it is not just professional teams that have "mastered" the traffic code. Many ordinary creators have also quickly realized that by shooting some content that exudes a sense of desolation, they can win more attention from fans.

@有金记录真实生活 is a vlog account that records life. According to Youjin, she and her husband came to Zhongshan, Guangdong from Yunnan with their two children to work. In the video, a family of four squeezed into a room of less than 10 square meters. Except for a bed, there was almost no decent furniture in the room.

Because the family's expenses depend only on her husband's monthly salary of 4,000 yuan, Youjin and her two children live in extreme poverty. They eat boiled vegetables every day, and spending 10 yuan on a cold dish is considered a "good meal". The new rice cooker she bought for 68 yuan not long ago is "showed off" by Youjin again and again.

It can be seen that the shooting method of Youjin Video is very simple, even sloppy. Overall, it is just a record of daily life. The creator himself does not have any talent or outstanding qualities, but just because it is "miserable enough", the account has achieved rapid growth.

The account only released its first work on July 18 this year. Up to now, the number of followers has increased by nearly 50,000 in three months. More importantly, each of her videos has more than a thousand likes, and the traffic is quite stable.

In addition, Kas observed that Youjin has started regular live broadcasts, and the number of viewers for each live broadcast can be stabilized at more than 500. She repeatedly said in the live broadcast that she did not make much money from shooting videos, just enough to earn food, and because of her low education level, she did not know how to live broadcast and sell goods, so if everyone wanted to help them, they could just give them some gifts.

There are even more examples of live streamers selling goods in their live broadcast rooms. Kass has previously written about elderly live streamers in late-night live broadcast rooms. In their descriptions of their lives, they often live in poverty, and some are seriously ill.

The dilapidated village houses, damp and mottled walls, old and messy backgrounds, the situations of the elderly who live broadcast late at night are surprisingly similar. These elderly people are generally over 50 years old. Because their sons have accidents, their daughters-in-law have remarried, and they have left their children behind, they need the help of others to live broadcast to make a living.

"Thank you for placing orders" and "I hope you like my products." At 1 a.m., the elderly who could not even speak clearly were still saying thank you repeatedly in the live broadcast room. The miserable family backgrounds of the elderly anchors aroused the sympathy of many netizens. Many users took the initiative to give gifts and buy products in the live broadcast room, even if they did not actually have the need to consume.

Generally speaking, "selling misery" is indeed an effective means to quickly attract people's attention. However, the audience's sympathy is limited, and the consumption power based on sympathy is also limited.

As for film and television promotion, the "crusade" against the marketing of misery in movies has never stopped in recent years. Many viewers said that "China's short video movie promotion is almost equivalent to fraud" and they really don't want to see similar promotional short videos anymore.

For ordinary creators, fans follow you out of sympathy, mostly on impulse, and are likely to stop following you afterwards, and have no "loyalty" to the creator itself. When the momentary kindness is over, the impression this account leaves on users will only become bad.

In addition, because of the huge traffic hidden behind "selling misery", many unscrupulous teams will take the initiative to fake and sell misery in order to get a piece of the pie. Xinhua Daily Telegraph once reported that many short videos of "old fruit farmers' unsaleable products" were pieced together in terms of pictures and sounds, and the "unsaleable products" were also fabricated out of thin air. There is an industrial chain behind this kind of "selling misery to bring goods", which is full of "marketing routines" from actors to scripts, production to promotion under the guise of helping farmers.

With negative reports again and again, fans' trust in this type of content has long been greatly reduced. Now, in the comment area of ​​most "miserable content", there will be a part of the audience "rationally analyzing" and trying to find out the truth of the matter. The platform has also specially dealt with content that sells misery, acts, and attracts attention. The relevant national departments have also dealt with many bloggers who edited stories to "sell misery". I believe that the supervision of these contents will become more and more strict in the future.

In any case, if you want to attract more fans, you must always rely on the quality of your work. If you don't have real skills and just rely on playing the victim to incite users, it will not only be unsustainable and unjustified, but it is also likely to cause "rebellion" among the audience.

Author: Jiangbei

Source: WeChat public account "CaasData (ID: caasdata6)"