This is not a 2012 prophesies discussion - Institute for Human Continuity.

[flatmaster]

I have a prediction regarding 2012: When the movie comes out this fall sites such as PF will be inundated with questions from moviegoers. We do have a little bit of time to prepare for this onslaught. One possibility: Create a (closed) sticky thread in general discussion that simply says "it's only a movie". When someone posts about 2012, point to the sticky thread and lock the questioner's thread.

Perhaps this will bring about an actual apocalypse while PF mentors are distracted.

 

[Moonbear]

Ivan, I'm really glad you brought this up. A sincere thank you. It's important to me that the public be aware of information which I consider to be valuable especially when it deals with scientific issues or claims, as such was the case with the movie, Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed, which was debunked by many outstanding scientists that hit the Internet.

This my third post. However, I wish to share with you what I found out about the website you presented.

Once again a tribute to NASA! From ASK A ASTROBIOLOGIST

Hmm...I never considered it from that angle. When I saw the ads for the movie, I assumed that some writer/producer/director combo had seen the conspiracy theories and decided it was a subject ripe for a blockbuster action movie full of disaster scenes. It never occurred to me that as the movie was being written and produced, that it could have been the studio seeding the conspiracy theories to ensure that by the time their movie was announced and advertised, everyone would already be familiar with the topic and more likely to be curious enough to want to see the movie. Now THAT is an even more interesting conspiracy theory, that the big movie studios are starting conspiracy theories circulating.

 

[WhoWee]

Yep. I posted as soon as I saw it, but within a few minutes I realized this must be a hollywood diddy.

Anymore it is hard to tell where the jokes end and conspiracy theories begin! My first thought was that some group was running the most sophisticated scam of its kind that I had ever seen - Let's see, if we run an ad a few times at a cost of $500,000, and we get two-million people to each send $5...

No, that has to be the mail us your gold programs - only in America.

 

[ViewsofMars]

Moonbear, I think we both agree that it's a science fiction movie. Thanks to Ivan, we're here to help the public realize that. Four postings to this topic is enough for me. I try to spend my money wisely so don't easily buy into media hype. I'll stick to reading my book that I earlier mentioned , MEN OF THE OLD STONE AGE -Their Environment, Life and Art by Henry Fairfield Osborn, 1919. Art in 2009 seems to me might sometimes become in Hollywood movies, the ART OF DECEPTION.

A pleasure chatting with you.

 

[Evo]

I'm appalled. I saw the commercial.

I say a boycott of Sony after such a disgraceful advertising campaign is in order. Greed, disregard for the gullible populace. Shame on Sony.

 

[rootX]

I'm appalled. I saw the commercial.

I say a boycott of Sony after such a disgraceful advertising campaign is in order. Greed, disregard for the gullible populace. Shame on Sony.

It also made me wonder if Sony has anyone who can think responsibly. I see it them presenting some nonsense as facts (from the youtube ad). If they openly claim that this is fictional then it would be much better but not that I would watch it.

Edit:

I don't know if someone has already pointed out but wikipedia says IHF is a fictional institute:

The studio also launched a viral marketing website operated by the fictional Institute for Human Continuity, where filmgoers could register for a lottery number to be part of a small population that would be rescued from the global destruction.[16]

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I'm appalled. I saw the commercial.

I say a boycott of Sony after such a disgraceful advertising campaign is in order. Greed, disregard for the gullible populace. Shame on Sony.

Its just a viral marketing strategy. I see no reason why this should make us any more worried about the average idiot than normally. I mean if you're really worried about people hearing and believing all kinds or ridiculous crap you should go after the people who intentionally propose it is the truth. Just listen to Coast to Coast for a week.

Edit: there was even a fairly well known hollywood bit actor in the commercial.

 

[Sorry!]

I think if people see this and can't draw the connection that it's for a movie then they would have believed this junk anyways... so why's it matter if sony is using it to their advantage it's smart. That's just my opinion anyways.

 

[Moonbear]

I think if people see this and can't draw the connection that it's for a movie then they would have believed this junk anyways... so why's it matter if sony is using it to their advantage it's smart. That's just my opinion anyways.

I agree. At least the ads I've seen on TV made it clear that it was advertising for a movie, after they lure people into paying attention to the ad with their dramatic statements about the end of the world.

This concept isn't new now, either, of taking people to a website where you really need to look closely to realize it's a movie. When The Golden Compass was getting advertised before release, they did that then too. Remember, there was a site where you got to find out what your Daemon was and what that supposedly meant about your personality, blah blah blah? It was fun, so people spread it quickly, and then as even those of us who would normally just ignore movie ads ended up looking at that one, word of mouth spread that it was about a movie.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The great thing about the 2012 nonsense is in a little more than two years, it will be a dead issue. Hopefully, when they wake up and they're not dead on Dec 22nd, millions of people will realize that they were being foolish. Given that we do have a deadline, this may prove to be a very useful. It will force people to reconsider everything they have been told.

Btw, there was nothing in the commercial that I saw suggesting that it was anything but serious. I really thought this was a scam [beyond a scam for movie advertising].

On the other hand, if we all wake up dead on the 22nd, we will never know we were wrong.

 

[humanino]

if we all wake up dead on the 22nd, we will never know we were wrong.

If I ever wake up dead, I will be freaked out enough not to care whether I was wrong or not ! What a strange concept

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If I ever wake up dead, I will be freaked out enough not to care whether I was wrong or not ! What a strange concept

Borrowed, more or less, from a child's poem

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
ask the blind man, he saw it, too.

 

[Moonbear]

On the other hand, if we all wake up dead on the 22nd, we will never know we were wrong.

Ooh, that would be interesting, waking up dead. The zombies are coming!

 

[Evo]

I really don't find this ad funny. I also don't see any disclaimer.



How many people watching this will go to that website? The disclaimer should be ON the commercial itself.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I really don't find this ad funny. I also don't see any disclaimer.



How many people watching this will go to that website? The disclaimer should be ON the commercial itself.

As if the 2012 disaster wasn't bad enough, I just heard a report on the radio that martians are landing in Grover's Mill, New Jersey!

Welles even provided disclaimers! And look at how much trouble he got himself into.

 

[Evo]

As if the 2012 disaster wasn't bad enough, I just heard a report on the radio that martians are landing in Grover's Mill, New Jersey!

A client of mine today gave me their e-mail address to send their account information to. I can't tell you what it was, let's just say that this person is a believer that some day soon, they will disappear from Earth in the blink of an eye and be taken "elsewhere".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A client of mine today gave me their e-mail address to send their account information to. I can't tell you what it was, let's just say that this person is a believer that some day soon, they will disappear from Earth in the blink of an eye and be taken "elsewhere".

Yes, and we have the Star Children, you know. My sister even fell for this. I have no idea how that got started, but I know she ended up going to a fortune teller, or psychic, or whatever they call themselves. But it wasn't so hard to believe when I thought about it. What new mother doesn't want to believe that her child is a special gift to humanity; that she was more special than other babies?

 

[Moonbear]

I really don't find this ad funny. I also don't see any disclaimer.



How many people watching this will go to that website? The disclaimer should be ON the commercial itself.

If you follow the website in the clip, it takes you right to a very obvious SONY website. I would imagine that anyone dumb enough to believe it would follow the link for more information.

The other link to the instituteforhumancontinuity.org that's listed near the end of the video also is pretty blatantly for a movie. It's a site also created by Sony Pictures and even says on it "Explore the 2012 Movie Experience."

Honestly, I've gotten to the point where I don't care if people want to be stupid. If anyone is too much of a moron to know the difference between reality and a movie, they deserve to spend the next three years stocking up their disaster shelter and worrying about the end of the world.

 

[humanino]

The Institute for Human Continuity is taking our next big step in ensuring that the end is just the beginning. We’re holding an election to find the Leader of the Post-2012 World.
The leader could be anyone -- a waitress like Cynthia of Miami, Florida; a farmer like Bill of Warren County, Illinois; or a fledgling novelist like Jackson Curtis of Los Angeles, California.
[...]
1-Grand prize : Trip to Mayan ruins in Cacun
2-12 candidate prizes : A PLAYSTATION

Seriously, not funny !?

 

[drizzle]

Borrowed, more or less, from a child's poem

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
ask the blind man, he saw it, too.

huh, that felt like sinking into the sky, are you sure it’s a child poem?!

 

[Hel]

Next time I have the desire to watch the world die at the click of my mouse, I will visit that site, simply for the animated simulations. ROFLOL!

And I didn't hear/read that poem until I was 15, though it was a somewhat different version in which the kids got shot by the police. I personally wouldn't want children in my care to hear something about dead children with weapons until they were oh... 12? At least old enough to understand oxymorons.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

though it was a somewhat different version in which the kids got shot by the police.

I didn't catch that. Same here: He "ran and shot the two dead boys".

I can still remember reading that somewhere around the third grade. I think I can even remember the book... It was called "Daze and Knights", I think, or something like that.

 

[WhoWee]

As if the 2012 disaster wasn't bad enough, I just heard a report on the radio that martians are landing in Grover's Mill, New Jersey!

Welles even provided disclaimers! And look at how much trouble he got himself into.

No, that's Libyan Leader Muammar al-Gaddafi and his entourage.

 

[junglebeast]

Borrowed, more or less, from a child's poem

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
ask the blind man, he saw it, too.

That is a lovely poem...was it written by one of your students or something?

 

[lisab]

That is a lovely poem...was it written by one of your students or something?

No, it's a well-known poem...at least in the US. I tried to google it but there are so many variations...it's too viral to find its roots.