The Drunk Duck Quackcast

This is a big, awkward, contentious and fiery subject. What we're talking about in this Quackcast is the current phenomenon of social marketing and how it fuels and drives the “culture war”, or “pop-culture war” to be more correct. Word-of-mouth and viral marketing are old hat now, Social Marketing is in. But what is it? Basically its word-of-mouth and viral marketing smashed together and weaponised: Marketing companies hijack hot-button social issues and hitch their client's brand to them in clever campaigns (“We can be better”, etc). The purpose isn't really to make a brand seem progressive, modern or new, rather it's another way of getting it trending on social media that's guaranteed to work, unlike the legion of hit or miss but mostly failed “Viral” campaigns. Whether people say negative or positive things about this issue is irrelevant to the marketer, as long as people are talking about the brand is all that matters. Free advertising is the goal, but it has a social cost. This has led to issues because the so called “culture wars” divide people in artificial ways. The way the social issues are presented in these campaigns is often overly simplified and so can sometimes be harmful to the issue itself. Fallout over community discussion can bring unwanted attention to the brand… People are random factors and can run with things in unexpected ways: actors can go off-message, people can get together and organise campaigns to review bomb things or even hound actors off-of social media, studios can get nervous and throw their weight around using their advertising budget (the threat of withholding it) as a bludgeon to kill websites… So much for the theory, what are examples of social marketing? A recent famous example was the “We can be better” video done for the razor company Gillette. The message was didactic and simplistically constructed, but what you'd expect from a marketing company. It was an enormous success though: it was fuel to the fire of the “culture-wars” and massively increased the profile of the Gillette brand. The campaign was trending on all social media, videos were made about it, blog posts, comments, rants, news articles and so on. The Gillette got far more than their money's worth with what they paid their marketing company. The social marketing of recent movies, the Ghostbusters reboot and the new Captain Marvel film caused problems (not the films themselves). Social marketers wanted us to think they were socially progressive and politically aware, promoting female empowerment, when in reality they're simply big budget, well-produced mainstream entertainment, the same as any other. The social marketing added to their profiles but also caused them to become pawns in the culture wars: by advertising love or hate of them people signal allegiance to a raft of other social issues and positions. Another early, but good example is the famous “Fearless Girl” This is a bronze sculpture that was commissioned by an advertising company, its purpose was to market a new female focussed investment fund on Wall street. As an aesthetic piece of art it's awful, looking like a Disney figurine; pure ugly kitsch. It also unfairly re-contextualised the older Charging Bull statue which it was put in front of. It looked like the girl was bravely facing it down which made the bull an evil villain. The bull sculpture had been created by an artist to celebrate the vitality of and dynamism of American business culture while this new sculpture was essentially fake art, a marketing gimmick created by an advertising company. However the unintentional result was that the sculpture became an icon of female empowerment, far beyond the small scope of the investment fund it was promoting. Bad, false art that it was, it actually became a successful “Good” art piece because it resonated and communicated so well with people everywhere, albeit with a far different meaning than was originally intended. It's now world famous. The problem with social marketing Companies ARE made up of individuals and they can support whatever ideals they like, as they should. This can genuinely be reflected in the products of those companies, this is perfectly ok. The problem comes when marketers insert issues as an artificial layer as part of a marketing campaign. Progressive issues are too important to be hijacked by marketers. The world is being divided more and more and the power of the individual is getting smaller, social marketing campaigns usually only exacerbate the problem. They hijack left-wing progressive issues and attempt to manipulate masses of people. They are not a genuine contribution to the cultural discussion, they aren't sincere, they are not organic, and they have more resources and a bigger voice so that they cause imbalance and contention. The web used to be a massive, chaotic, democratic morass, now it is dived amongst a much smaller number of media companies: Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter etc, so that it's very easy for corporations to manipulate and attempt to control social sentiment while also shutting down the voice of the community. How can we combat social marketing? Calling out social marketing for what it is, that's a start: Recognise when something is attempting to manipulate you and instead of engaging with it (“This movie will be amazing because it's about this social issue!” or “This film is horrible because it's about this social issue!”) say what it's really doing: “This film is no more an advocate for that social issue than any other, I will see it because I like the content. The marketing campaign attempting to promote it as socially aware is false and manipulative”. But simply ignoring fake controversies the same way we do with viral ad campaigns is probably best. Progressive people should not be fooled into thinking a corporate entity properly represents issues and nor should those who are against them. No one should be tricked into doing the work of a marketing company, you are not being paid and they don't deserve the free help. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to The Lightning Orb: Zaps, shocks, sparks, electrified plasma arcing through open air with the hot burning smell of fresh ozone… invisible pulses through flat gold wire circuits printed on green silicon as electrons are exchanged at almost the speed of light. Topics and shownotes VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Featured comic: Redneck - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/mar/04/featured-comic-redneck/ Links: Banes' newspost about Gag orders - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/28/gag-orders/ Banes' comic strip We Can Do Better - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/jan/16/we-can-do-better/ Fearless Girl and the bull - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_Girl Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Featured music: The Lightning Orb - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Lightning_Orb/, by AWilsonnn, rated T.

The entire team is here this time, no one was cut… So we're chatting about CUTTING, as in cutting out scenes to make a story cleaner, leaner and less flabby, but also NOT cutting because in a webcomic you don't have to, and when you cut badly you end up with a “D movie” effect where story scenes don't follow, don't make sense and plots seem to go nowhere or happen for no reason. In most stories you can cut out lots of bits and pieces and get a leaner, more streamlined result: the reason is that an audience will interpolate the missing information between two factors and create their own rationalisation for the events that lead from one to the other. Often this can get them a little more involved and invested in the story because of it. You can trick them into thinking it's a better, cleverer story than it is because they did some of the hard work themselves. Introductions and long establishing scenes can be cut, but also the “things” that happen between or lead up to something: A murder for example. You don't need to show how it was done, just the intent to commit it and the discovery of the body the next day. You have to be careful when you cut too much though because events and motivations will stop making meaningful sense and your story will turn to garbage as the structure begins to collapse. I'm sure we've all seen the DVD special features where scenes were cut to streamline the story and you realise WHY the finished product didn't quite make sense in its final form and that it would have been SO much better if they haven't cut that bit out… Webcomics are a unique medium: they thrive on content. Commercial products have a lot of boundaries and rules they have to stick within, especially movies, so cutting content makes much more sense for them than it does for webcomics. But it's still an interesting thing to try, especially if you want to make your work more commercial in future, i.e. write it up as a screenplay, release it in 30 page printed issues, or even just go for a more cinematic feel. Don't fall into the trap of pruning a story just for the sake of one element like “action” though, or because you want to rush from one scene to another. Stories benefit from having variation in the pacing. This is why action movies like Ronin and Diehard are so awesome: extreme action is beautifully contrasted and set up with slower scenes that let you take stock and rest (- https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/22/the-action-non-action-ratio/ as in Tantz's newspost last week). The film Van Helsing was well made and entertaining but the breaks between the non-action parts were insufficient, meaning that the impact of the action suffered because of it. You often hear on DVD commentaries “We cut this part because we thought it was diverting from the main plot” among other rationalisations… Well sometimes that works in film and sometimes it doesn't. Webcomics though often benefit from the freedom to explore side-plots so be careful what you choose to cut. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Aikornia! Double, triple, contrabass, octobass cello! The big guns are coming to play for you now, ushering in the footsteps of doom. It’s like the knight’s dance from Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev, but as if it were written for ents instead! Topics and shownotes VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Featured comic: My Cute Wish - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/26/featured-comic-my-cute-wish/ Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Pit Face - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/ Featured music: Aikonia - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Aikonia/, by Aikonia, rated E.

This Quackcast expands on my newspost from Friday about forgotten abilities causing plot holes, but now bunny Banes and Lady Tantz wade in to lend their genius to my silly ideas and we chat about what the real issues are: bad writing and laziness! This is when a character gains the ability to walk through walls or become bullet proof or go back in time and then forgets it for the rest of the story or in the sequel When basically 80% of the problems they encounter could be solved by it… And you're mentally screaming at them “Use your damn power that you got 20 pages ago… Remember that thing that would help you avoid all this trouble!?” Using easy solutions to get out of problems causes plot-holes! And your audience will hate you for it. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Space Repair Garage The Comic: Groove into this easy-going, saucy space symphony of high tech bleep-blooping cool! You’ll be carried along on a flaming column of power as it slowly ramps up to epic proportions, and then be left alone, coasting in space as it suddenly cuts out. Topics and shownotes VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Featured comic: Aikonia - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/18/featured-comic-aikonia/ Newspost about causing plot holes by forgetting abilities - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/21/forgotten-abilities-and-plot-holes/ Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Featured music: Space Repair Garage The Comic - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Space_Repair_Garage_The_Comic/, by Ninja_bait, rated E.

Hollywood has a tendency to simplify or completely alter stories to make them more mainstream and appealing to their idea of a popular audience. In this Quackcast we thought it'd be fun to run with that idea and re-imagine our works for “Hollywood”. Need examples? Take Carmen Sandiego: From a mysterious woman and master thief she has now been rebooted as a teen girl who only looks like a thief, she's really a good guy. Hollywood is replete with far worse examples though: “Run Lola Run”, a high action German movie about a woman desperately trying to get to a reality where she and her drug dealer criminal boyfriend stay alive after a routine drug deal spirals horribly out of control, all themed around her desperate run to be on time! Turned into “And Then Cam Lola”… Now a romance film and instead of a scruffy ner-do-well in love with a drug-dealer BF, Lola is now a talented photographer who's trying to make things right for her job and her girlfriend: Hollywood ;) Ironically, the treatments we give our comics probably makes them more commercially saleable IPs XD This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to GRIND: Raw, slutty vocals and a slow sleazy tune… perfect for a burlesque show. This music evokes the acid colours and sensual, hardcore, comical imagery of Lothar’s GRIND perfectly! Topics and shownotes VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Featured comic: Ursa Tale - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/12/featured-comic-ursa-tale/ Link Hollywood Treatments… - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/178108/ Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/ Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Pit Face - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Featured music: Grind - WARNING NSFW - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/lothar/, by Lothar, rated A. *the cover pic is me and the other winner of best costume at a masquerade ball on Saturday. No reason, I'm just happy with it :D

It's just Ozoneocean and bouncy Banes today. This time we're chatting about breaking and subverting structures, formulas and conventions in webcomics. Commercial creative projects need to use formulas and familiar structures because that's what audiences expect, it's also what studio executives, creative editors, publishers, producers and all the people that greenlight those projects need and expect as well. The Hero's Journey and other conventions and formulas aren't just used because they make good stories but because of the commercial realities and risk averse nature of the industry (there's a lot of money and jobs on the line). Webcomics don't have those pressures so we're talking about why webcomics shouldn't necessarily adhere to popular formulas and structures and why many don't. This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to EscapeVelocity. Blinking readouts on screens and dials, blinking stars outside thick glass sealed against the vacuum… this is the future and the future is space. Deep in the cold, black void, in an isolated oasis of heat, light and breathable oxygen inside a space travelling vessel, the only place out here that survival is possible. Topics and shownotes VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Featured comic: Scarred Eden - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2019/feb/04/featured-comic-scarred-eden/ Special thanks to: Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Featured music: EscapeVelocity - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/EscapeVelocity/, by TheJolle, rated M.