Talk about a promoted tweet.
A full-page ad in Saturday's edition of The New York Times included the image of a single tweet that promoted the film Inside Llewyn Davis ahead of next Sunday's Golden Globe Awards.
"For Your Consideration" full page @nytimes ad ... And it's a Tweet. pic.twitter.com/xezFhyatbI ... Corr: Well, as it turns out an MT...— Kirstine Stewart (@kirstinestewart) January 4, 2014
This particular photo shows the ad on page C7 of The Times, though Scott speculated that it may also appear in other parts of the newspaper. The ad was placed by CBS Films to promote Inside Llewyn Davis, a comedy-drama film that follows a week in the life of a young folk singer in the early 1960s.
It is interesting to note that the tweet was from New York Times film critic A.O. Scott who seemed baffled to find his positive tweet about Inside Llewyn Davis inside his own publication. In tweets throughout Saturday, Scott called the ad "a bit of a surprise" and said he was "a little freaked out."
we have reached a strange new place in marketing when tweets become full-page print ads.— a. o. scott (@aoscott) January 4, 2014
Another noteworthy aspect of the ad: The tweet was actually modified, which means the image was not of the exact tweet Scott published back on Dec. 30. The original tweet included the names of two other movies: The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle.
You all keep fighting about Wolf of Wall St. and Am Hustle. I'm gonna listen to the Llewyn Davis album again. Fare thee well, my honeys.— a. o. scott (@aoscott) December 31, 2013
The original tweet from A.O. Scott on December 30.
If Scott did not give permission for his tweet to be included in the ad, CBS Films may have violated Twitter's "Use of Content" guidelines. The guidelines stipulate that "without explicit permission of the original content creator, Twitter content may not be used in advertising."
CBS declined to comment.
Update: January 4, 7:25 p.m. ET -- In a statement given to Mashable, The New York Times explained why the newspaper chose to run the ad that featured a modified tweet from one of its critics. "Generally we accept movie ads that include quotes from our critics from reliable sources and expect them to be accurate and acceptable in taste," the statement read. "This particular ad adheres to our advertising acceptability standards, and is appropriately labeled as an advertisement."
Separate sources familiar with the ad confirmed that the tweet was indeed modified in order to meet rules established by the Academy. These rules prohibit production companies from mentioning competitors' movies in their ads.
UPDATE: Jan. 6, 6:14 p.m. ET -- A story from The New York Times' Public Editor Margaret Sullivan confirmed that critic A.O. Scott did not grant CBS permission to use his tweet in last weekend's full page ad. In fact, he specifically told them "no."
In an email, Scott responded to CBS Films after it asked to use a modified version of his tweet:
Well this is a new one. I’d prefer though that my tweets not be used in advertisements. That seems like a slippery slope and contrary to the ad hoc and informal nature of the medium.
And changing the tweet is basically manufacturing a quote, something I avoid.
So I’m afraid the answer is no.
Scott Rudin, one of the producers for the promoted film Inside Llewyn Davis, told The Times that CBS chose to use the tweet as an extension of Scott's review of the film. “If a critic is going to tweet it, we’re free to use it,” he said. “We’re free to edit any review. We pull out what we want.”
The full page ad cost $70,000, according to The Times.
As was mentioned above, using another person's Twitter content for advertising purposes without their consent is against Twitter's guidelines. It is unclear what happens when these guidelines are violated, and Twitter did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment.
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