Ummm… we hope so. Users on the Turkish equivalent of Reddit got a weird AF DM last night from an account by the name of “iamwaldo.” As The Daily Sabah reported, the message read, “We know what you’re up to. Watch and see what we will do.” Eeeeeek! Naturally, this creeped a bunch of users the hell out.
However, The Daily Sabah and others suspect that this is not some scary big brother thing, but rather a marketing ploy on behalf of Netflix to promote the upcoming season of Black Mirror. The “iamwaldo” username seems to be a reference from an episode from the series, entitled “The Waldo Moment.”
Gizmodo reached out to Netflix, but a spokesperson declined to comment. However, a source close to the publication confirmed that the streaming platform is the culprit. Public reception of the campaign is somewhat spit: some users thought it was funny, while others were deeply offended by a company playing on the fears and anxiety of the public, and all in order to promote a show. Apparently the stunt was so creepy, that some people are seeking legal action.
In context, what may seem like an overreaction by American standards may seem more understandable in a country like Turkey, where the country declared martial law following an attempted military coup.
Will the promotion may be very on-brand for a show that’s entirely based on a dystopian future where human existence is dominated by things like technology and corporate interest, there’s no doubt that the marketing scheme was more than a little tone deaf.
