Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [37]
The True Blood campaign deliberately set out to blur the lines between fact and fiction, creating a backstory for vampires and humans with the launch of a series of websites and ads designed for the vampire consumer or to reach out to humans. HBO launched TruBeverage.com to promote Tru Blood, a line of synthetic bottled blood for vampires, which rivaled real product sites for its innovation, complete with a blood type finder, product descriptions, and merchandise. Outdoor ads also went up for Tru Blood in select cities along with empty Tru Blood vending machines to make it appear that as if the synthetic beverage was always sold out, leading to the natural question, who drinks synthetic blood? Vampires!
HBO also launched an inclusive dating site for humans and vampires, www.lovebitten.net, as well as an anti-vampire coalition, the Fellowship of the Sun (www.fellowshipofthesun.org), a remarkably real site run by Reverend Steve Newlin and his wife, Sarah. The actors who portrayed the characters, Michael McMillian and Anna Camp, appeared in a series of vlogs called “Reflections of Light,” short vignettes on everything from marriage advice to the temptations of being turned by a vampire to avoid uncertain death.
Beyond these strategies, vampire profiles began to appear at various social networking sites such as Facebook, livejournal, and YouTube. On MySpace, the profile for “Blood” was created and two videos uploaded: “Vampire Taste Test — Tru Blood vs Human,” which features a vampire comparing the taste of synthetic blood to a fresh human, and “BloodCopy Exclusive — Interview with Samson the Vampire,” in which Samson professes the necessity for vampires to embrace Tru Blood and “make something” of themselves. At the 2008 Comic-Con, attendees were given a prequel comic that featured the vampire Lamar who tells readers about a synthetic drink, Tru Blood, and the possibilities for it to make things safer for his kind.
The campaign also drilled down to the mundane, airing evening weather radio reports and running “local business” ads before films in select theaters. A faux newsmagazine show also aired on hbo on Demand that featured “The Vampire Report,” which covered segments from the world of vampire news, everything from cooking for humans to hate crimes.
Not everyone was a fan of the initial campaign, however. Tru Blood slogans such as “Real Blood Is for Suckers,” “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink Friends,” “All Flavor. No Bite,” and “Because You Don’t Need a Pulse to Make Hearts Race” struck deep to the core of self-identified vampires who felt the campaign was insensitive if not mocking. HBO representatives have answered those charges with the response that it’s not possible to make fun of something that doesn’t exist. Which would be a valid argument, if they hadn’t sent follow-up press materials to known vampire covens. Was it intended to be cruel, or just a case of hbo having not done its homework?
The campaign went so far as to boast that Gawker Media had purchased the BloodCopy site. This didn’t just rustle a few vampires. Even Business Insider was duped into reporting on the alleged merger, leading many to call into question just how far a faux marketing campaign should be allowed to go. Not to mention that it upset many of Gawker’s editorial staff, who felt that much of the coverage BloodCopy enjoyed on the site equaled that of sponsored posts.
During research for his book Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampires, author Joe Laycock learned about the marketing campaign for True Blood. In his article at www.religiousdispatches.com, he offered his insight into the rift between real vampires and the network by drawing the line at what he considers an elaborate ruse. Laycock’s