Blair witch program advertising campaign

 The Blair witch project  is a American horror film that was released in 1999 and is a fictional story of three students filmmakers who hike out into the woods to film a documentary of a local legend known as the Blair witch,they all disappear however their footage is recovered and this is what the viewers see.

Despite the movie not living up to its viewers expectations its still regarded by many as one of the greatest advertisement campaign ever, from missing person leaflets, an interactive website and chat rooms, along side the trailers succeeded in capturing the public interest in the film as the goal of theses tactics where to create confusion.

The missing person leaflets that where fabricated and distributed led people to the website Devoted website of The Blair Witch Project which allowed people to uncover the backstory of the legend consisting of fake police report and news stories all of which started to create discussion online in chatrooms further spread confusion and the reach of the films audience.

This form of marketing mainly targeted at teenagers and young adults who have a better understanding of online platforms and are more likely to access websites and spread word through forums and chatrooms, at least at the time this would of been the case.

despite the overall success of the campaign it was also surrounded in controversy due to concerns of the ethics of the project,this is because the material was so convincing a lot of people thought it was real creating mass hysteria and outrage.They where eventually forced to change how the promoted the film and the cast began appearing on talk shows to clear the air and change public perception.

The Blair witch project is a clear example of how media can have effect on its audience especially linking to theory of the hypodermic syringe model, which is to suggest that the message is received and fully accepted by the audience. The directors successfully convinced a lot of viewers that the Blair witch project was real and this created overall panic, and their was cases of anxious people contacting police linked to the film.