Last Sunday the Discovery channel aired a show called “Eaten Alive”
that had everything but someone being eaten alive. Paul Rosolie was supposed to
be swallowed by a giant anaconda for the show. For the vast majority of the
show viewers spent time watching Rosolie try to find the large reptile only to
fail when the snake started to wrap around him. Discovery built up suspense and
interest only to fail by a mile. Discoveries views have since been down and
many frequent audience members have lost trust. Brand managers are going to
have to work twice as hard to promote shows from now on. They do not look every
good in the public’s eye when they lie or fail to meet promises. If a show is
called eaten alive, people are going to expect that. Viewers joked on twitter of posting pictures
of their dog biting their finger, asking for their own show. Or humoring tweets
about the snake wasting hours of its own life on the show. Rosolie was even
mocked by being squeezed by a possibly fake snake and having to be saved at the
first sign of pain. People are very upset with Discovery and the PR team has a
lot of work to do.
http://www.prdaily.com/socialmedia/Articles/17754.aspx
- David
I'm glad you posted this. I wanted to watch that so I'm thankful I know what really happens and I didn't end up wasting my time. It's a silly show anyhow. I'm sad to hear the the Discovery Channels views are down, I think they have some really great shows to offer. I trust that the PR team will restore viewers faith in the Discovery Channel. I would think it'd be easier to fix the problems of a client with an already positive reputation.
ReplyDelete"Eaten Alive" when you initially hear the name of the show, myself as well as the many other discovery channel viewers i'm sure were intrigued. What would this title lead to as a reality series? As David said a flop. Right after hearing the title and asking the obvious first questions, whose getting eaten and by what? The first thing that popped into my head was false advertising may play a factor in this show. That being stated however I'm glad they went out on a limb with that title tactic. I would have just liked to have seen a show closer to what you'd think the title would in tail or perhaps a new title in general would have been more appropriate and maybe wouldn't have caused so much animosity towards the discovery channel now.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised to see the title of your post, “Eaten Alive,” and the preview of “Eaten Alive” that I saw suddenly popped up in my head. I’ve searched and looked through the website you posted. Even though I don’t want to see a man eaten alive by anaconda, I was curious. Some programs only focus on building up suspense and interest, it will be fun at first. However, it won’t last for a long time. I’m sure that there is a lot of efforts in this program, but is obviously blown out of proportion by the media.
ReplyDeleteDiscovery Channel is an very famous TV show around world, even in China. They present us a lot of information about nature and others. From this article, Discovery was failed to consume its audience, but I think their PR team will help them go through this.
ReplyDelete