Like any movie company, 20th Century Fox is always looking for new ways to promote its films. Taking a cue from the controversies of the 2016 Presidential Election, Fox decided to use fake news websites to create stories with both direct and indirect references to the movie. Fox partnered with fake news writers to publish stories on five different websites, aptly named Houston Leader, Indianapolis Gazette, NY Morning Post, San Fransisco Dispatch, and Salt Lake City Guardian to appear to be local newspaper sites. Stories on these sites included reports that President Trump and Vladimir Putin were spotted at a Swiss spa together before the November election. The story went so far as to use the exact spa from the movie and reference the movie's main character. Some stories were not relevant to the film and touched on topics such as abortion and vaccines. One talked of how Lady Gaga's Super Bowl Halftime show would address "a sickness inside us" and fight Trump's inherent bigotry. Such articles urged readers to interact in ways such as tweeting #ACureForWellness or #TakeTheCure to raise awareness of the "issues" addressed. Unsuspecting readers would tweet and share the articles without realizing that they were really promoting the film. The stories have been shared thousands of times and have even been picked up by partisan sites.
The problem with Fox's strategy is that people have recently been known to fall victim to fake news. Simply scrolling through Facebook and reading a headline can be enough to convince someone that the news is credible. Sources are not always checked and jokes are not always understood. A representative for Fox has since apologized for the campaign, saying, “In raising awareness for our films, we do our best to push the boundaries of traditional marketing in order to creatively express our message to consumers. In this case, we got it wrong. The digital campaign was inappropriate on every level, especially given the trust we work to build every day with our consumers." Experts have pointed out that subjects of the fake news articles may have a legitimate legal case against Fox. The case is up for debate: Was Fox creative in its marketing efforts, or was the company acting irresponsibly by feeding into the epidemic of fake news? Fox certainly got people's attention, but at what cost?
Links to the fake news sites now take readers directly to the A Cure for Wellness movie homepage, though the article about Lady Gaga's performance can be viewed on partisan website below.
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=61506
