Recently I’ve been hearing and re-reviewing the responses to certain creative projects. Have you ever heard of the video game Hatred? Maybe you’ve heard of the campaign ComicsGate. In the supposedly closing publisher of Bad Idea, Matt Kindt has been using his title Hero Trade to explore why troll marketing leaves a bigger impression with as few resources as possible.
Anti-Political Correctness/Wokeness?
The director of Hatred and a number of people who sell/fund their comics through ComicsGate often cite political correctness or woke culture as the thing they’re fighting against. This sounds like an excuse just to vent their frustrations with the modern world. But that’s part of their appeal, with so many people frustrated with the world, these products provide a kind of catharsis.
But isn’t Wokeness supposed to be good? It should be until I encountered a few factors that made me feel like these people either had preaching agendas or were trying to make money off of public discourse. On a blog I used to follow, content focused so much on terms that were supposed to be fun references, inspirations, or change in directions; they focused more on topics like colonialism, white saviors, or supremacy. Worse they invoked the worst of discourse fandoms by changing a page that challenges a common topic on how Batman really does use his money to help people in social programs into a less controversial list of misunderstood heroes.
Don’t get me wrong virtue signaling goes both ways. Something like posting pictures with a gun or a traditional nuclear family can be seen as right-wing virtue signaling. But it’s the arguments and labels that are the real topic here.
Trolling: The New Independent Marketing Model
Because what made these campaigns so successful in terms of monetary is the cheap and long reaching impressions of troll marketing. The kind of marketing meant only to dig into psyches to get attention and people sharing it to try and censor it all. Because there’s always the possibility of another crowd willing to throw money at these campaigns. Because that’s been working relatively well for Bad Idea comics, at least how Matt Kindt published Hero Trade.
When it comes to making impressions, sometimes the cheapest and most effective means are getting under people’s skin enough to get labeled.
Labels Or Price Tags?
Ideas and the movements around them fade with time, kind of like rumors. But when they’ve made a big enough impression, there are people who want to capitalize everything. Take the amount of times when the inclusion of same-sex marriage support and the boycotts around them got Starbucks attention for example. This can be considered a major victory for inclusivity, but also it’s commodification.
Have you heard of when marijuana was illegal and people found ways to circumvent getting it? Attempts to censor or demonize something can actually make it more popular. Just look at a history of Rock music or D&D.
In today’s social media age, what seems to matter more isn’t the quality of a subject but the impression it makes. I’ve found content from publishers like Guardian Knight Comics that went under chiefly because most people have never heard of them. Even if you overcome Sturgeon’s Law in terms of storytelling and art, what’s the point if you can’t keep the money rolling? The problem is the most effective advertisements like billboards and television are expensive.
Bundled Packages
For publishers and services that run on shoestring budgets, what matters more are the reactions people have and the impressions they make. This includes reviews, newsletters, and most divisively social media. But to make a lasting impression, you have to give them some form of benefits especially if it’s part of a cause bigger than yourself.
The common benefits that come out of these ads are places for people who share interests to communicate. Hence why coffee shops and social media tend to be hot topics. People who have beliefs so different than you occupy the same space. On one hand that means people can find common ground, on another is the fact it’s never been easier to get into a fight.
But that also brings up a more moral challenge, commodification. When socially constructed desires or needs come up, there’s always a chance for people to make money from them. Sometimes the results can be rather good in the short-term; in this troll marketing example, a company one upping it’s rivals is playful and leaves an impression that what they offer is better.
But in the long term, there comes the realization there might not be any real fulfillment, just a service that leave people with buyers remorse. And the people behind these services could barely care less so long as their profits are good enough to keep their services running. Sure having imagery supporting the numerous spectrums of humanity is a good look; but what’s the point when this is just an ad to something that doesn’t help people of these spectrums in any meaningful way?
For all of the paradoxical benefits to troll marketing, there is a serious cost to people’s psychology. Whether or not people can take any service or its quality or relevancy seriously.
When Altruism Or Bullying Is Commodified
On either end of a policy making spectrum that can gather awareness towards something, it’s whether anyone can find some moderation. Between all of the benefits and trigger word criticisms, will the interest in something argued lead to salvation or disillusionment?
You might remember what I said about Starbucks support of the sexuality spectrum and the boycott got it more attention and customers. But in media depictions or brand support of ideals like Black Lives Matter, this doesn’t provide direct support of communities.
On the other hand, speaking publicly through rhetoric or trying to make your opponents the butt of a joke can come across as bigoted. For example when a ComicsGate creative criticized the Justice League SnyderCut ads for #StopAsianHate, his attempt at irony came across as racist. It’s like how when one person says something is just a harmless joke becomes the basis of cyberbullying.
Because of all the boycotts, advertisements, and of all the attempts to look good; social justice that leans left or right has become less of a means of trying to help others and raise awareness of serious issues and becomes little more than a buzzword to sell products. But criticism against it gets the label of being bigoted, even when there is a point.
Who Even Cares Anymore?
That’s the real issue, semantic satiation; when people get so attached to the buzzwords like feminism or Anti-SJW so much, people forget or just lose interest in what it originally stood for. Sometimes it gets so oversaturated that any other valid criticisms or praises get lost in all of the arguments. Let’s take a recent example. Oh who am I kidding this video says it better (please note that it’s a half hour long because of how complex the issues surrounding it are):
For me personally, I’m finding a few trends in the mediums I love that annoy me. It’s partly because some of them bring back to tropes and trends that always annoyed me. Characters going into relationships despite no build up, now that just includes more on the sexuality spectrum. Monetizing events and trends with no insight or moderation for the sake of relevancy; the earliest I can remember existed in post-9/11 America in a lot of movies and comic books to try and fail to capture the essence of the conflicts. No cooperation or quality control on creative media, just deadlines and whatever can make headlines.
I’m Tired…
This is the main problems when it comes to troll marketing. Whatever service people offer after participating in culture wars, they lose sight of the real systemic problems that propagate: toxic work environments, mental health, mid to quarter-life crises, a lack of professional support or stable home life, a lack of network support or opportunities to grow. There’s even a real psychological disorder that intersects with these issues.
This is called Histrionic Personality Disorder, a neurological flaw with the nickname Attention Whore Syndrome. The shameless self-promotion to spin this in their favor is arguably what gets the most attention. Ironically this is the least dangerous variant, unlike the Narcissistic Personality Disorder that react badly to criticism.
Who’s Authentic Anymore?
In the modern age of influencers, politicians trying to get into office, and trend profiteers; authenticity seems to be disappearing. But maybe that’s just what happens when you focus too much on the bad things. I don’t know, Big Entertainment just doesn’t seem to be able to tell the difference between real criticisms and trolling anymore.