Confused Americans thought Amazon's fake radio station was real and started fighting on Twitter
Remember 1938, when Orson Welles went on the radio and broadcasted "War of the Worlds," accidentally convincing a surprising number of Americans that aliens had successfully invaded the United States?
Well it's 2017, aliens have yet to invade the country (unless you count Ben Carson) and Americans are just as susceptible to fake news as ever. A fictional Internet radio broadcast called "Resistance Radio," part of a marketing campaign for Amazon's Man in the High Castle, confused some Trump supporters and anti-Trumpers alike over the weekend, inciting anger and chaos on Twitter.
Man in the High Castle imagines what life would be like in 1962 had the Axis powers actually won the war and the Nazi party reigned supreme in America. For the ad campaign, which premiered at SXSW, producers created a fictional Internet radio broadcast and website pretending to be the voice of the American resistance.
"Hijacking the airwaves, a secret network of DJs broadcast messages of hope to keep the memory of a former America alive," the website reads.
How people could get this confused, I don't know. But for some reason, listeners either didn't see the logo, didn't understand it or just reacted in outrage without reading it, because that's how the internet works.
To be fair, there have been a few Resistance Radio podcasts in the past. And Amazon's streaming station makes a few suggestive references to contemporary politics, including use of the phrase "fake news." #ResistanceRadio is sometimes used as a hashtag to identify anti-Trump resistance music on Twitter.
Still, some people still took the bait and gleefully. Can we no longer enjoy a random branding campaign in peace?
Heather was the Web Trends reporter at Mashable NYC. Prior to joining Mashable, Heather wrote regularly for UPROXX and GOOD Magazine, was published in The Daily Dot and VICE, and had her work featured in Entertainment Weekly, Jezebel, Mic, and Gawker. She loves small terrible dogs and responsible driving. Follow her on Twitter @wear_a_helmet.
