Over the past month, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman seem to have taken over the internet. On Instagram, they’re eating spicy wings for Hot Ones . On YouTube, they’re cameoing in Stray Kids’ music video .
On TikTok, they’re nibbling nuggets with Chicken Shop Date ’s Amelia Dimoldenberg . This surge in exposure (and chicken consumption) has one goal: to get people talking about Deadpool & Wolverine , their film that landed in cinemas in July. But unlike traditional film marketing, such as press junkets, in which celebrities do back-to-back interviews, and celebrity profiles, this kind of promotion doesn’t have to mention the film.
All it needs to do is go viral. How do Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman promote Deadpool & Wolverine? They eat chicken and dance to K-Pop, apparently. Credit: Compiled by Aresna Villanueva This is the new norm.
Before Deadpool & Wolverine , the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga team created dating memes , and Snapchat launched a sandworm lens in honour of Dune: Part Two . Red carpets and tell-all interviews still took place, but more so as a side-dish to the social media main. So, what’s behind this shift? It largely comes down to the accessibility and reach of social media, says Hao Xu, a lecturer in marketing communications at The University of Melbourne.
Not only are platforms like TikTok and Instagram free, they’re made for short, engaging videos that capture the attention of a broad range of people in record time. “Social media provides mar.