Sky Brings Down the King Via Social Media
For fans of HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, boy king Joffrey Baratheon may be television’s most hated villain. He’s cruel, he’s petty, and actor Jack Gleeson plays him so successfully that he gets stopped by concerned fans who worry others might be harassing him over the portrayal.
With the show’s fourth season starting last weekend, Sky, the network that broadcasts the series in the UK, decided to play off the hate for King Joffrey with a brilliant social media campaign. It worked with DDB New Zealand, who set up a larger-than-life statue of the boy king in Auckland’s Aotea Square. A rope was tied around the statue’s neck. The other end was attached to a complex bit of machinery. The machine was set up to pull the rope a little tighter every time anyone tweeted with the hashtag #BringDownTheKing.
The progress was live-streamed online, so Game of Thrones fans could tune in and watch Aucklanders posing with the statue as it ticked closer and closer to its doom. In just a few short days, the fans managed what none of the show’s massive cast have: they brought down the king.
