Staged for Shock and Shares
“Prankvertising,” or the viral prank video, is a high-risk, high-reward marketing tactic that became incredibly popular in the 2010s, particularly for promoting horror films. Unlike a simple practical joke, these are high-production-value stunts that use hidden cameras, special effects, actors, and stunt performers to create a shocking and seemingly real supernatural or terrifying event for an unsuspecting public. The entire operation is engineered to be captured on video and edited into a slick, shareable package for YouTube.
The effectiveness of these pranks lies in their ability to elicit raw, authentic reactions of terror and surprise from the public. This emotional payload makes the videos highly compelling and shareable, turning them into powerful pieces of viral marketing.
Famous Horror Movie Pranks
Several campaigns are considered classics of the genre, having amassed hundreds of millions of views:
- Carrie (2013): In the famous “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise,” an actress pretends to be a young woman with telekinetic powers. After a staged argument where another actor spills coffee on her, she uses her “powers” to throw him against a wall and send tables and books flying, causing genuine panic among the patrons.
- Rings (2017): In an electronics store, the marketing team rigged a display television so that the film’s creepy antagonist, Samara, could physically crawl out of the screen and menace shoppers.
- Devil’s Due (2014): An unnervingly realistic animatronic “devil baby” was placed in a remote-controlled stroller and let loose on the streets of New York City, terrifying passersby who peered inside the seemingly abandoned pram.
While undeniably effective at generating views, this marketing tactic has also faced criticism for being potentially cruel to its unsuspecting victims.