Ashton Kutcher Punks Twitter: A Giant Million Follower PR Stunt

by Truemorist | April 17, 2009 at 09:32 am

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Ashton Kutcher's million Twitter followers did not "just happen".

This is not a story of the "little man" beating out "big media" — this is the story of a major Hollywood celebrity orchestrating a massive, social media publicity campaign that was specifically designed to promote himself, Twitter and, by extension, Ted Turner and CNN.

Today it came to light that Ashton Kutcher received an allegedly "pro bono" donation of 1,133 digital billboards that urged passers-by to follow Kutcher on Twitter.

The billboards were "donated" by Lamar the the third-largest billboard company in the U.S. and, as of Friday, will reach 34 million impressions. Lamar claims they wanted to support Kutcher's plan to donate malaria nets to charity.

People began noticing the billboards appearing in or near Atlanta (CNN's HQ), Pennsylvania, Detroit, Cincinnati and along the I-75 interstate highway — and they were understandably confused, surprised, and disgusted.

Follow the Twitter stream of commentary on the appearance of the billboards — and check out a TwitPic of the Kutcher billboard in question.

But not only that, as the race to the million follower finish line approached last night, Twitter users were suspiciously blocked from unfollowing either Ashton or CNN — thus ensuring that one of them would reach the million mark without incident. (Thankfully, today, Dave Winer explained how to unfollow aplusk).

Securing Kutcher's victory, however, was a necessary part of the campaign, as the so-called "King of Twitter" was scheduled to appear on Friday's Oprah Winfrey show to help the talk show queen launch her own Twitter brand.

Needless to say, Twitter users are furious over what appears to have been a much larger and more orchestrated celebrity PR stunt designed to punk Twitter into believing that, as Kutcher declared in his 'victory speech', this supposed milestone is somehow "about a statement that one man can have a voice that's as loud as an entire media company. And you can have that voice as well. And we can all have that voice together. And, and, and we can change media forever."

Great idea, except that this is entirely untrue.

Very very few of us are already multi-millionaire, Hollywood celebrities with huge devoted fanbases and, even fewer of us have access to the networks, contacts, and expensive public relations teams necessary to accomplish what Kutcher & Co have done — and that is to manufacture the biggest news story of the week...out of nothing more than one man's pre-existent fame.

As Simon Dumenco at AdAge accurately observes, "something rather retro" is happening here — Twitter is "reverting to a rather pre-Web 2.0 paradigm: broadcasting. The Few speaking to The Many."

If this guy's at the pinnacle of the Attention Economy, then the Attention Economy needs a bail-out.

Using a new-media tool, Kutcher is leveraging his fame to make himself more famous by declaring his intention to become, well, even more famous -- this time in the statusphere.

Is this the beginning of the end or the advent of new beginnings?

Judging by Friday's rising tides of #backlashton, the tweeps ain't feelin' it. See the chatter below:

Here is what people are are saying about the billboard on Twitter;

Feed Reader

So there's this giant billboard just put up saying in these tough times we offer prayers for Oklahoma.. .. ok where is Ashton kutcher hiding
So there's this giant billboard just put up saying in these tough times we offer prayers for Oklahoma.. .. ok where is Ashton kutcher hiding
RT @pattiemallette: Amazing 2013 Billboard Music Awards tonight! Of course my personal favorite was @justinbieber ;) So Proud! Xo
RT @pattiemallette: Amazing 2013 Billboard Music Awards tonight! Of course my personal favorite was @justinbieber ;) So Proud! Xo

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mtippett

at 09:42 on April 17th, 2009

An interesting development.

Amy Judd

at 09:58 on April 17th, 2009

Great last paragraph, that really sums it up for me.

Nicole W (not verified)

at 10:09 on April 17th, 2009

You couldn't unfollow CNN either. Twitter likely wanted someone to hit 1 Mil for showtime.

Jordan Yerman

at 10:10 on April 17th, 2009

The technology changes, but the underlying dynamic is proving to be the same: the potential for users to effect media influence is not equal, no matter how low the barrier for entry has become.

Jessy Ryan Stephens (not verified)

at 10:16 on April 17th, 2009

JOIN #BACKLASHTON TODAY AND END THE MADNESS!!!

AJ Kohn (not verified)

at 10:22 on April 17th, 2009

This is a prime example of Asocial Media. This isn't social. It's marketing. It's business.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not really that different of a dynamic.

Fred Miller

at 10:23 on April 17th, 2009

All the twits got punk'd. Now find someone less famous to follow on Twitter. Become sheep.

On the bright side, thanks for helping with the Mosquito nets.

Genna (not verified)

at 23:35 on April 17th, 2009

Come join us!!!! @WheelDates 1 MIL Motorheads race between @NASCARGirl14 & @WheelDates: @NASCARGirl14 300 @WheelDates 203 Follow Us to 1 Million!

Kevin Fair (not verified)

at 10:24 on April 17th, 2009

Is this really a surprise that it's a PR stunt? Everybody involved benefited from the publicity. Nothing wrong iwth that as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who thinks that much of the news that catches people's attention, and particularly entertainment news is by this definition a 'manufactured news story'.

A handful of billboard ads in one market promoting the bid to get 1,000,000 users really isn't going to make much of a difference in the overall number of users except to perhaps accelerate the recent increase a little. The billboards didn't influence the vast majority of users. One way or another someone was going to reach a million sooner or later, but it probably would have been CNN instead.

Also, the inability of people to unfollow in the late stages of the approach to 1,000,000 is easily explained by the fact that a prize was being given to the one millionth follower. They simply were preventing people from unfollowing then trying to time a follow to win the prize. Try unfollowing today, I'm sure you are able. There's really no conspiracy here, just successful PR.

Errol Dunlap (not verified)

at 13:13 on April 17th, 2009

Kevin,

You have to think about the implementations of this tactic. If Ashton, who is an average celebrity (to me), can do an internet blitz like this to sucker you and others into joining a 'cause-for-a-cause' then imagine how ad companies will take it a step further. From using just one media, to packaging all of those mediums into one. It's going to be a different advertising world--especially since it was a billboard company that supported it (not to mention Oprah). Gone are the days of little man gets big, you're going to have to be big, to get bigger...just wait and see.

WendyW (not verified)

at 10:36 on April 17th, 2009

I'm not sure the conspiracy theory holds up. Last night I couldn't follow aplusk or CNNbrk. It looked like I did, but would revert to unfollowed status instantly, as if the ajax/javascript part of the page worked, but the database never registered the change.

Other people in my feed complained that they couldn't unfollow either name.

I'm guessing it was probably just some sort of database transaction issues that kept those overloaded users from being followed/unfollowed, since I had no problems following other people.

Russ (not verified)

at 11:47 on April 17th, 2009

WENDYW <- I had the same thing.

I tried to follow BOTH of them and when I clicked it, it said I was following, but when I refreshed it turned out I was not. I had to click around 15 times for it to take!!

Is this really a shock??... I mean it's Twitter. They are overloaded half the day. And the number of people trying to follow those 2 yesterday made it hard to keep up.

Blaine Metzgar

at 12:05 on April 17th, 2009

Twitter has offiicially jumped the fail whale.

Wendy Pollock (not verified)

at 12:25 on April 17th, 2009

Who really cares it is was a PR stunt or not? Seriously. I say GREAT JOB Ashton even if it was. Besides all that, look at the charity he just helped out and other celebrities and even some of his followers joined in to help out the cause. I applaud him either way. GO ASHTON!!

kristin c. write (not verified)

at 12:41 on April 17th, 2009

for every celebrity on twitter, there are 50 self-claimed marketing SEO "gurus" spamming away, all day and all night. and what do they get for their efforts? UNFOLLOWED.

they would do well to follow @aplusk. he ain't restin' on the laurels of his celebrity. turns out kelso's a marketing visionary. dude's co-created 5 reality tv shows, one of which was so popular, it's brand has become an internationally-used catch phrase. he also co-owns his own production company and is creative director for a tech. start-up in silicon valley.

and now, he's unlocked the power of twitter. not simply by being a celebrity [there are many celebs on twitter, some of whose star status out-ranks kutcher by leaps and bounds, but who have nowhere near the twitter folllowing],but by being an engaging and responsive human who fondles the internet like a pocket-protector weilding don juan. now if only his acting was THAT good... ok, ok; he wasn't bad in "the butterfly effect."

a thought for the sulky marketing "messiahs": through your tears, try to see the potential of how this next-level celebrity voyeurism can benefit your business. don't hate; masturbate [them]! like Lamar did. like Larry King did. like Oprah did. like Ted Turner did. like CNN did. Like Ustream did. like Twitter did. and like all of the wannabe Guy Kawasakis did.

HOWEVER, if you continue to spam me in 140 characters or less and DM links to your free e-books on how to make 500K in two minutes or gain 60,000 followers while taking a dump, ya gonna get punk'd, kid.

AaronZ (not verified)

at 13:20 on April 17th, 2009

Well said Kristin. There are a lot of great things that came out of this - not the least of which is the help to prevent malaria. Sure, the average joe won't be able to accumulate followers or leverage traditional media like Kutcher, but this definitely opened some doors and some minds. Personally, I don't think this is anything close to a 'stunt' if you look how it evolved. There's no way that Ashton was thinking about the impact and exposure when he created his off-the-cuff video message saying that he would ding-dong-ditch Ted Turner. But he quickly and creatively leveraged the opportunity once he saw what was happening. Give the guy some credit. He's got a great track record as you pointed out. Whether you like the characters he plays or the shows he creates or not, he did something pretty amazing last night and I congratulate him for it.

joseph slabaugh (mrdeleted on twitter) (not verified)

at 07:12 on April 23rd, 2009

Well if you have a problem with auto DM's, why not sign up with SocialToo.com? I have been hardly getting any of them recently, but I have about 100 that I need to delete yet.

Also Kutcher was promoting a site that was charting the progress of the "contest" that was hammering Twitter, and made it even harder for twitter to work, but there was another site, TweetRace.com, that was doing the same race thing, but they only refreshed in 5 minutes, then closer to the end, 1 minute, and the site is still up if anyone wants to check it out. I think 4 users are now above 1M followers right now.

Gesus (not verified)

at 13:03 on April 17th, 2009

to manufacture the biggest news story of the week.

It ain't even the biggest news story of the day.

Social media is for losers.

PatF (not verified)

at 14:16 on April 17th, 2009

For me, it's about 10,000 mosquito nets (plus the matching donations) going to needed areas. If it's a PR stunt, who frickin' cares. People get waaaaay too precious about things.

shahidah (not verified)

at 14:39 on April 17th, 2009

LOL it's entertainment people! If you want news, get it! Stop hating on the celebrities for making their own fun. If they need attention and they want to use their money to get it, let them. It doesn't affect you unless you let it. And please make your own donations for malaria nets. That was really the whole point anyway. I noticed only a few people asked Kutcher about where they can donate.

Suzanne Lainson (not verified)

at 14:59 on April 17th, 2009

I haven't weighed in so far because I like following Ashton and Demi on Twitter. I never paid too much attention to them before, but they have made Twitter fun. However, I haven't seen this event as the start of anything revolutionary. It seems very much mass media to me: one-to-many. There isn't really a lot of communication back-and-forth. Recently someone suggested to me that some of the celebs on Twitter might be paid by Twitter to generate buzz for the company. And now that I read about the elaborate efforts for this (the competition, the billboards, the appearances on Oprah). it does seem to be done on Twitter's behalf. I've been far more thrilled with the buzz about Susan Boyle.

Mikasi

at 15:04 on April 17th, 2009

Actually, I am pissed about this because it detracts from my own efforts at Twitter self-aggrandizement.

My goal was equally lofty, at least for me - the plan was for me to blitz micromedia and motivate new people to follow me on twitter.

My twitter i.d. - madmanmikey

My twitter goal - to have a total of 23 followers by this time next year.

My twitter promise - to update you everytime I post pictures from bellydance events in the Kenosha, Wisconsin area, with roughly one update per month.

Come'on people help me live the dream!!!!!!!!

Amy Judd

at 15:16 on April 17th, 2009

This is hilarious! :)

Jordan Yerman

at 15:17 on April 17th, 2009

With belly-dance photos, I'd think you'd get more than 23 followers!

Rob Pivarnik

at 15:28 on April 17th, 2009

On the day Ashton Kutcher garnered his 1,000,000th follower on Twitter, I was on my way to pick up my car from being repaired, when...

(This electronic billboard can be seen between exits 32 and 33 on I-95 northbound in Stratford, CT.)

Rob Pivarnik has contributed a photo to this story.

Mikasi

at 18:58 on April 17th, 2009

gee and now you can tell your kids where you were when it happened. Or at least I can tell mine where you were...

LDubTown

at 15:49 on April 17th, 2009

I saw this on my way to work today. I was all WTF?

LDubTown has contributed a photo to this story.

rafacst (not verified)

at 16:34 on April 17th, 2009

About the How to Unfollow ashton and CNN, it was written by Rafe Needleman, not Dave Winer.

John Moore (not verified)

at 17:02 on April 17th, 2009

I have read countless posts about how foolish it was that Oprah gave Ashton Kutcher the title of King of Twitter based upon this stunt. While I agree with some of what I’ve read here and on other posts, I think that many people are missing the important aspects of what is happening.

If you're interested, read my thoughts on why Oprah and Kutcher have helped Twitter cross the chasm. Feel free to leave comments on the blog:

http://johnfmoore.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/thanks-to-oprah-twitter-has-crossed-the-chasm/

John

http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore

Andrew Mueller (not verified)

at 17:12 on April 17th, 2009

Press stunt or not it shows both the change of balance of power between social media and corporate media, as well as, that between a "popular" few on social media and everyone else.

I am urging people to show their collective influence by unfollowing Ashton for one day on Monday the 20th - Unfollow Ashton Kutcher Day use hashtag #ufapluskday. Everyone should feel free to follow back on Tuesday if they wish, but on that one day we can show that we can join together and effectively counter the dispraportionate power of a few.

For more info: http://bit.ly/seXdZ