Ka-Pow! Comic Con Hijacks Attendee Twitter Accounts

Hundreds of New York Comic Con attendees received badges yesterday with a radio-frequency identification chip inside. Technology is cool! But these unsuspecting conference-goers had no idea that the tracking mechanisms would also tweet on their behalf. “Your NYCC experience is about to get 100x cooler! For realz,” the registration form reads.

Depends on how you define “cooler,” probably. Attendees had been given the choice of opting out of the automated tweets during registration by choosing whether or not to link their RFID chipped badges to their social accounts. But this was a fine-print detail that even the savviest technophiles missed.

Tweets from hijacked attendee accounts read, “So much pop culture to digest! Can’t. handle. the. awesome. .” Also: “ is the Best Four Days of my Year! https://bit.ly/15YvA1P” with a link linking back to the NYCC Facebook page.

Screen Shot 2013-10-11 at 1.49.13 PM

Top industry attendees that the overly-exuberant marketing affected, like Brian Crecente, a news editor at Polygon, and IGN’s Executive Editor of Mega Franchises, Greg Miller, were not happy.

Screen Shot 2013-10-11 at 2.28.13 PM

The NYCC has since disabled the function due to all the social backlash …

Screen Shot 2013-10-11 at 1.39.39 PM

 

… And has explained in a Facebook message what happened:

As you may have seen yesterday, there were some posts to Twitter and Facebook issued by New York Comic Con on behalf of attendees after RFID badges were registered. This was an opt-in function after signing in, but we were probably too enthusiastic in our messaging and eagerness to spread the good word about NYCC.

Digiday reached out to NYCC for comment over email and Twitter, but has not yet received a reply. Hopefully they haven’t tweeted it from our account.

Image via Jason Persse on Flickr

https://digiday.com/?p=52353

More in Marketing

At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Mastercard joins a pack of consumer brands flocking to Formula One

For marketers looking to align their brands with F1’s expanded appeal to audiences, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is providing a slip road into the sport.

Why PepsiCo and EA are expanding their partnership into mobile: A Q&A with PepsiCo vp of global sports and entertainment partnerships Adam Warner

The planned, multi-year nature of PepsiCo’s integration into “EA Sports FC” reflects that both PepsiCo and Electronic Arts are playing the long game as they look to step up the presence of ads inside and beyond EA’s portfolio of sports titles.

Key takeaways from Digiday’s 2024 Gaming Advertising Forum

Now that gaming has gone from a buzzword to a regular presence in brands’ media mix, marketers are more closely scrutinizing the value and ROI of their investments in this channel — and the platforms are rising to the challenge. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from this week’s Gaming Advertising Forum.