Film ad pulled from Facebook over graphic violence

by Alice Burnfield, Brand Republic 28-Feb-08, 10:00

LONDON - An online marketing campaign promoting the Universal Pictures film 'Untraceable', has been pulled from Facebook after concerns about the violent nature of its content.

The "kill with me" page, which was set up by The Picture Production Company five days ago, had been gradually revealing more of a visceral torture sequence from the film.

An increasing number of Facebook members have become fans in the lead up to the film's launch this Friday.

The promotional page included the text: "This guy is going to die. You want to see his stinking flesh burn and bleed and blacken? Until he's some twisted dead thing? This is what you want. And I've filmed it especially for you. The more fans I get, the more I'll show ..."

Facebook said the material was pulled because "pages that are hateful, threatening, or obscene are not allowed".

An alternate reality game promoting the film on video blogging community Seesmic was brought to a premature close last week, after one of the site's moderators mistook the staged torture of a character as the real thing.

The reality game, also created by the PPC, depicted the abduction and killing of a community member, mirroring the storyline of 'Untraceable' -- in which a serial killer creates an untraceable website where he conducts violent and painful murders live on the net.

A series of clips were filmed live by webcam and posted to the site at regular intervals over a 48-hour period. They showed a community member, nicknamed Sharpeshooter, being subdued and violently electrocuted.

The reality game used a related Twitter feed to create a digital 'paper-trail' leading back to the film's official website.

Dan Light, head of interactive at PPC, said the agency wanted to push the boundaries of what is acceptable in an online community with the 'Untraceable' marketing campaign.

Light said: "We saw this project as an experiment in 'live marketing', exploring the fact that, even with user-generated content proliferating online, audiences continue to detach what they see on-screen from reality.

"The campaign has been a success insofar as it has fuelled an ongoing conversation across various channels around some thought-provoking issues at the heart of the film."

He said that he felt he had been punished by Facebook, especially considering the company had adhered to the guidelines, such as making sure it was age restricted.

Neil Wirasinha, director of international advertising media at Universal Pictures, said: "This strand of the 'Untraceable' campaign was always intended to be highly provocative.

"We were looking to promote a reaction and we've definitely achieved this. And it brings to life the question at the heart of the film -- would you watch it?"

The PPC is currently in discussion with Seesmic about some of the issues the community and its operators face, in relation to the censorship of violent or disturbing user-submitted content.