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So, I got some rather entertainingly creepy Twitter spam yesterday.
Turns out this is some sort of Shoreditchy ARG-cinema-thing run by Fabien Riggall, who does Secret Cinema (warning: website plays noise at you). So this is almost certainly very badly directed please-please-buy-a-£35-ticket-and-join-our-game marketing spam, but I wanted to see how far it went, so gave them a standard "sure, email me details of the role and we'll see" response.
Turns out it's not just marketing spam, but fractally stupid marketing spam! Somehow, they picked me, of all people, to offer an unpaid "job" posting spam on their behalf, presumably trying to recruit people to post spam and buy absurdly expensive tickets to their events. Also, apparently, they're offering everyone the "Chief Information Officer" title, which is a bit crap in itself. 30 seconds' research found four people claiming to be Chief Information Officer for Brave New Venture, which is just comedic. Also, once you've paid for your ticket, you get inside and get the opportunity to pay more for in-game money, buy drinks, and pay for food. Definitely only an evening for rich people!
Of course, I wouldn't be nearly so annoyed about this if it weren't for the catastrophic mistargeting (who pitches expensive event tickets to people who tweet about disability benefits?) and the fake "job" thing. As far as spam goes, "We have a job for you" is the new "You may already have won £10 million". I'm not about to fall for it, but that doesn't mean I enjoy having my poor-disabled-working-class nose rubbed in the fact that people who can afford to pay £35 for a ticket to a mysterious, undetailed event think that a) I'll do their advertising for the vague promise of a treat after I've paid up myself, and b) jobs and employment are something to play games around.
In fact, it's not just employment generally: what they're specifically "offering", within the game context (which I didn't agree to join, so having people try to talk to me within it is irritating in itself) is unpaid and stringently assessed tasks, with further "work" depending on performance. As advertising goes, this is really quite spectacularly mistimed. I'm trying very hard to avoid workfare in real life, so being offered it as an "opportunity" to pay for in a game (giving the organisers a real-life benefit at that) is pretty offensive. If something sounds interesting, I'll tweet about it; if I've been there and liked it, I'll encourage others; but as far as publicity on the basis of one generic, not-even-slightly-personalised email goes, this post is all they're getting. The good news is that I'm not going to invoice them for it.
( email below )
@Bravenewventure: @Eithin Good afternoon. A study of your profile has determined you to be a possible candidate for a role at #BraveNewVentures. Interested?
Turns out this is some sort of Shoreditchy ARG-cinema-thing run by Fabien Riggall, who does Secret Cinema (warning: website plays noise at you). So this is almost certainly very badly directed please-please-buy-a-£35-ticket-and-join-our-game marketing spam, but I wanted to see how far it went, so gave them a standard "sure, email me details of the role and we'll see" response.
Turns out it's not just marketing spam, but fractally stupid marketing spam! Somehow, they picked me, of all people, to offer an unpaid "job" posting spam on their behalf, presumably trying to recruit people to post spam and buy absurdly expensive tickets to their events. Also, apparently, they're offering everyone the "Chief Information Officer" title, which is a bit crap in itself. 30 seconds' research found four people claiming to be Chief Information Officer for Brave New Venture, which is just comedic. Also, once you've paid for your ticket, you get inside and get the opportunity to pay more for in-game money, buy drinks, and pay for food. Definitely only an evening for rich people!
Of course, I wouldn't be nearly so annoyed about this if it weren't for the catastrophic mistargeting (who pitches expensive event tickets to people who tweet about disability benefits?) and the fake "job" thing. As far as spam goes, "We have a job for you" is the new "You may already have won £10 million". I'm not about to fall for it, but that doesn't mean I enjoy having my poor-disabled-working-class nose rubbed in the fact that people who can afford to pay £35 for a ticket to a mysterious, undetailed event think that a) I'll do their advertising for the vague promise of a treat after I've paid up myself, and b) jobs and employment are something to play games around.
In fact, it's not just employment generally: what they're specifically "offering", within the game context (which I didn't agree to join, so having people try to talk to me within it is irritating in itself) is unpaid and stringently assessed tasks, with further "work" depending on performance. As advertising goes, this is really quite spectacularly mistimed. I'm trying very hard to avoid workfare in real life, so being offered it as an "opportunity" to pay for in a game (giving the organisers a real-life benefit at that) is pretty offensive. If something sounds interesting, I'll tweet about it; if I've been there and liked it, I'll encourage others; but as far as publicity on the basis of one generic, not-even-slightly-personalised email goes, this post is all they're getting. The good news is that I'm not going to invoice them for it.
( email below )
