Hulu Alien Conspiracy

As always, Superbowl commercials are becoming more popular than the superbowl itself, and while most of my friends were watching the commericals for the entertainment purposes, I was analyzing them for some deeper meanings, and there were a few. I found it interesting that they advertised "Sell your Gold" over and over again, where "superstars" decided they no longer needed their superbowl rings and other trophies and they'd be better off selling their gold for *ha* U.S. dollars. But more interesting than that was of course the Hulu Alien Commerical (code named HAC, since that is what usually happens when you see Alec Baldwin). That night, I went online to see if the conspiracies were hatching. They weren't, but pretty soon there were plenty of them. Now I can speculate on whether or not Hulu really are aliens, but I'd rather speculate on what is actually empirical, the commercial itself and the reaction of the audience.

The two biggest reactions I've seen from this commercial are 1. It's Hilarious with a capital H, and 2. It's genius marketing. I don't think either of those are true, however, other people think they are true.

The fact that people think the commercial is funny is almost embarassing, since there is really nothing funny about it but it's weird so I guess it makes certain people laugh, people who will most likely be logging onto Hulu all day and night. The other crowd thinks it is smart advertising. Why? Because it gets us to ask questions. Of course, the only questions they want us to ask is where can I get it and how much. And as Alec Baldwin graciously tells us, it's FREE of course! Wow, why would a corporation go through so much trouble to provide free entertainment to the masses. Maybe for advertising influence, or maybe they finally spilled the beans and just admitted its to rot your brains.

Regardless of which category the public falls into, the obvious result is that people will continue to believe aliens are just an outrageous spoof and that if you believe in aliens you must not have realized that Hulu was just a commercial and it was all just for fun and games (and billions of dollars in advertising). I personally do not understand the monetary value of commercials. I mean you spend millions of dollars on commercials, a million just for the superbowl, and you expect that to be an investment to double or triple your proceeds? How is that possible if Hulu is free? Advertising feeds off of advertising. Hulu pays the superbowl a million dollars for a 60 second commercial, and then Pepsi or some other brainwashing corporation finds their advertising gimmick Hilarious, and they pay Hulu 10 million dollars. The math is complicated, but one thing is for sure, commercials are a waste of braincells. People say t.v. rots your brain, I say commercials rot your brain. Commercials are far more brainwashing, since they intentionally try to be brainwashing, then a 30 minute t.v. show.

So either way, I'm ranting by this point, so I'll just end by saying what do you think of this commercial, are they really aliens out to get us, or is Alec Baldwin that bad of an actor that he is actually good at acting like an alien?

[edit on 4-5-2009 by ancient_wisdom]

I think it's brilliant marketing and Alec likely gets a kick out of tapping into the quasi-reptoid thang.

On another note, I think it's pleasant to see that what was once "fringe" is becoming more media-acceptable. Maybe, just maybe, those that are holding the secret cards might elect to show their hands.

I actually just looked it up and watched it, and well, even if it is not FUN-funny, it was never the less yanking the smile-muscles, so to speak.

I guess it is quite possible that he (Alec) may play a bit on the accusations from David Icke, that he is a Reptilian.

Just to let the OP know. Hulu makes money off of the advertisements that display when you watch shows. That's why they can offer it for free.

I'll post the vid too so others can see.







Here is something about the conspiracy...



AN EVIL PLOT TO DESTROY THE WORLD.... Enjoy!

[edit on 4-5-2009 by DaMod]

Also, take a look at it this way.

Do you remember the commercial? (Yes - obviously). This equals a successful marketing campaign.

I remember a Super Bowl commercial years ago involving cat herding. It was hilarious, but I have no clue what they were advertising. A consumer not knowing what the commercial is about equals a failed marketing campaign.

You said you don't understand the math, but you pretty much nailed it. 1 million investment up front pays for itself 10 fold.

The site is awesome. The commercial (at least the first one) was hilarious. And using the whole alien/NWO thing obviously points to the fact that so many people would either identify with it, or at least enjoy and remember it.

It's funny, when you actually go to HULU, there is nothing anywhere on the page signifying a correlation to the commercial. Usually if a marketing campaign is doing well, the site that corresponds to it will reference the current campaign. HULU doesn't. Hmmm.

quite honestly, until this thread reminded me of HULU, I couldn't have told you who the commerical was for, just that it invoked a chortle or two from me.

Still, I'm glad that such things are more mainstream.

Originally posted by ancient_wisdom
I personally do not understand the monetary value of commercials.

As a 30+ year advertisng industry veteran, I would agree. You certainly don't understand the value of Advertising or Branding. It is as much science as art. And some might even say........propaganda. But the ability to influence or sway opinion or perception is a powerful commodity.

People say t.v. rots your brain, I say commercials rot your brain. Commercials are far more brainwashing, since they intentionally try to be brainwashing, then a 30 minute t.v. show.

I say great advertising won't sell a bad product and bad advertising can kill a great product.

Commercials are what pay for network prgramming. I am not going to attempt to convince you that advertising or commercials in general are good but watching them is optional, you could get up and go to the bathroom like everyone else.

Great advertising is epic and memorable. ( Apple: 1984, Budweiser: Clydesdales, Coke: Teach the World to Sing etc.)

So either way, I'm ranting by this point, so I'll just end by saying what do you think of this commercial

I think it was brilliant marketing, we are talking about it now over 3 months later.

Regards...KK


[edit on 4-5-2009 by kinda kurious]

I've known about Hulu for a long time, and it's been available since long before the superbowl. I think it was basically started as an experiment in online video distribution as a means to curb file-sharing of copyrighted material. Networks needed to see if online and on-demand content could be feasible using traditional ad revenue. I suppose it was successful, or has only really begun since they seem to be hitting the advertising angle fairly vigorously.

I'm honestly not really that impressed by it. They've never had a really decent selection of videos to choose from, and rotation rates sucked. The whole thing was a novelty IMO. However, since the Superbowl ad the content has gotten a bit better. Not so much the movie selection and rotation, but the television episodes and clips variety has undergone substantial improvement in lineup and rotation.

Problem for me is, I don't really watch TV - and what few shows I do enjoy you can usually find on the network's own site with reduced (or absent of) commercials. Nova on PBS, for example - or South Park Studios. I typically enjoy a good movie rather than follow a television series, and Hulu has failed miserably to garner my attention. Especially since their movies break away for commercials at fixed yet seemingly arbitrary points - and there are far too many of them.

I blame NetFlix for that. I don't know if they really had a significant impact on any Hulu policy - but their Watch it Now lineup is rotated fairly consistently with a mixture of both blockbusters and B-grade cheeseball flicks. It's also commercial free, which is a huge bonus for me. I haven't delved into the television section much, but they put up entire seasons at a time so it's more likely to cover an entire storyline arc or sub-plot. I don't recall if the service is unlimited, but thus far I haven't had any issues in this regard and doubt that I will in the foreseeable future due to my limited usage anyhow.

Netflix streaming comes with the membership, and is less than $10 a month for the lowest tier plan (which I use). Plus you get a movie in the mail, so you're still getting access to new releases and stuff that's not currently on the Watch Now list. Best of all, no commercials. No pop-ups, no BS. Movie quality is automatically scaled to your internet connection to provide the best picture quality without exceeding your bandwidth's buffer. Netflix even provides a product line for streaming videos without a PC, as well as securing strategic partnerships with Microsoft and Sony to integrate their service into popular videogame consoles and some TV sets. This was a brilliant move - as it secured more business for them as well as it provided end-users with an option for PC-free streaming that many homes already own and which are already geared for family-room media centers.

All of the features I listed above are NetFlix's advantages over Hulu, and from my perspective - Hulu can only offer one advantage. It's free. However, you do get what you pay for, and it's annoyances for me are due in part to differences in the level of service. Movie industries are a far harder sell for licensing rights than television studios partially due to the well established and accepted existing rental and box office systems - and partially due to the much faster rate for new content existing in television. This is a niche and exploit that Hulu can capitalise upon - because they can get new episodes of television shows for distribution as soon as the studio releases them - perhaps even the same day. Netflix's system, however, relies on DVD releases of entire seasons at a time. So in this regard, if you miss an episode of your favorite show - you're far more likely to turn to Hulu than wait for the season to end and the DVD to be released - at which time Netflix would acquire rental licenses.

I would be interested in seeing a comparison between the business models broken down into real numbers and rationalizations to see who actually profits more per video streamed.

To be honest though, I don't even know if Hulu really sees Netflix as a competitor or puts the slightest considering of their model into their establishing their own. Irregardless, my opinion of Hulu stands. I think they are a botched experiment trying disparately to retain their sustainability by emphasizing their niche strength. The major networks who invested in this experiment will likely continue to push it's success until it either does establish itself in this niche successfully or until the cost of it's failure is recognized as an unnecessary expenditure which is costing them more money than it saves by dissuading piracy.

Insofar as the Alien commercial - it's just a catchy commercial that, whether you like it or hate it, inspires you to give a damn enough to form an opinion about it and remember their and product. Some of the most seemingly universally loathed and annoying commercials have proven to be successful advertising - simply because it draws your attention.

They're not really aliens, they're not cleverly disguising some silly arbitrary space law whereby they have to tell us they will rape our species and eat our children before they invade - regardless of whether or we can stop them, they don't really eat brains, and they're not pulling a bait & switch, They're simply trying establish a model of distribution that reduces piracy by catering to their customers desires for on-demand content, meanwhile manufacturing costs, etc - yet still garners them a respectable return using the time-honored model of advertiser revenue rather than monthly fees. Claiming it's free is only the so called icing on the cake. It gets more people to check it out, and inevitably see the commercials.

Are they really aliens out to get us? No, it is just a marketing campain. Nothing more, nothing less. It must be a pretty good one at that as it seems to have everybody talking about hulu now huh?

I can go on TV and say I am big foot. But I am not. People will say or do anything to sell a product. That is what is going on here.

Claiming they are all aliens surely grabbed YOUR attention didn't it?

Regardless of your preference for the commercials, you do have to kind of sit back and marvel at the elegance of it. It seems to me that it's geared to be cute and cheeky enough for those who recognize it for what it is - but also presented in a way that mocks people who actually might think it is all a government/alien scheme to control us. To continually goad this small niche community has kicked up a bit of attention towards the drama - and lurkers observe the paranoid rantings like patrons to the circus side-show.

If they planned for this to be both a mainstream AND viral campaign at once - whoever created the concept is a genius. Viral marketing is very hard to pull off. Some have done it masterfully (I Love Bees: Halo 2), and some are so laughably bad that "An epic failure becomes an epic win" as an offensively obvious and bad viral campaign generates so much backlash, that initial losses from angry consumers are compensated over the long term due to the sticking power of the brand name the controversy caused. Sony is notorious for failed viral campaigns, but one - the "I wanna PSP for Christmas" rap actually succeeded due to the interest generated by how badly it failed.

I think the jury is still out on the final verdict, but I'd call the Hulu viral/MSM ad a success.

reply to post by DaMod


Those ads raised a chuckle from me. Kinda makes me wish we actually got HULU outside of the U.S! But that guy in that last vid you posted....hoo-boy...I watched that, thinking it was tongue in cheek, but then I watched his "Watchmen" vid....and that guy is a complete nutter!!! He makes some ridiculous claims which he really shouldn't when it's obvious he either didn't understand or didn't pay full attention to the movie...really, I wouldn't believe a thing that guy says! A sensationalist of the worst kind...