Note to self: Lite Brites scare old people

(sorry about the title--I've got the Boston fiasco on the brain)

Viral and non-traditional marketing campaigns are slowly approaching the mainstream as a growing segment of the population becomes more comfortable with the non-traditional media which is emerging from our computer screens, cell phones/PDAs, iPods, and (once they have lost most of their "cool-factor") TV screens. Many consumer goods, like cars, shampoo, and even tupperware (on of the primary non-digital forms of viral marketing) build campaigns around word of mouth to generate interest in the products without engaging in traditional TV and Print ad campaigns. These firms typically create some sort of "real world" experience through which to bridge the gap between marketing and the everyday lives of potential customers. In simple cases, these events occur in friends' homes. However, as media delivery systems become more sophisticated and varied, the firms are able to generate audio, video, or visual artifacts which are delivered in quiet and spread through the marketplace via word of mouth. In some cases, like the now infamous Aqua Teen Hunger Force lightboard campaign, these viral marketing tactics take the form of seemingly inexplicable signs, art installations, or public displays.


Other viral campaigns attempt to create a "trail of breadcrumbs" which curious viewers must follow in order to learn more about the mysterious product being advertised (successful example: "What is the Matrix?" posters in 1999 for The Matrix; unsuccessful example: "Who Stole the Show?" ad campaign for the Chicago auto show this month). In the case of consumer goods, these marketing campaigns essentially create a network of texts, like a sign pointing to a website, about the good/service to be sold, which achieves the same goals of traditional advertising (i.e., educating the consumer, differentiating products, generating brand loyalty, etc.) without the "stodgy" personality of traditional Madison Avenue ad campaigns. In pursuing the trail of breadcrumbs and "reading" the ad campaign, the viewer comes to know the product with the mild psychological reward of discovering the truth behind the mystery. For most consumer goods and services, these marketing campaigns do not significantly alter the material makeup of the product. For example, no ad campaign can change the horsepower or ride of a Nissan Versa--it can only alter our expectations of it.

However, the story is different when the advertised product is, in itself, a text. Albums, video games, movies, TV shows, books, etc., are not necessarily bound by the same limitations as a car, and can be significantly expanded, edited, and altered by the production of these viral marketing devices, or "paratexts." Take for example, the television show Lost, and its NBC protege, Heroes. Both Lost and Heroes have extensive paratextual content (that is to say, texts closely associated with the original which play a significant role in the formation and reception of the original text) available on the Internet. Both shows paratextual network also attempt to blur the boundary between the fiction of the shows and the real world. For example, Lost's paratexts include, among episode guides and summaries, "real" websites for corporations which played a seemingly marginal, but growing roles in certain episodes, and of course, an immersive game called The Lost Experience. Heroes's paratexts include graphic novels, blogs by characters and chances to "interact" with the show through another immersive game, The Heroes 360 Experience. The majority of these paratexts are sanctioned and even created by the show's producers and writers, and therefore seem officially a part of the text, or 'canonical.' They introduce a flavor of ergodicism into the shows by placing puzzles and challenges between the curious viewers and the nearly infinite strains of information which can be used to put together a unique understanding of the texts.

However, what about user/viewer-created content? Message boards, theories, fan fiction, and chats abound about the possibilities of the shows, offering an even more extensive network of paratexts which expand and frequently illuminate what viewers see in both the primary TV show texts and the producer-created paratexts. They play a vital role in the reception of the text, but only for those viewers dedicated enough to navigate the multiple levels of paratext. Furthermore, because they are not produced by the creative minds behind the show, they do not contain officially sanctioned, "canonical" information. So how are we to receive them? Can we fairly call these fan-created paratexts and "official" part of the textual network? The producers of both Lost and Heroes certainly encourage the production of these texts. Thus, while it could seem illogical to a traditional student of this type of text to consider the fan-created content a significant, even official part of the text, it is nonetheless true that these texts perform the same interpretive purpose as "academic" criticism, and also expand the possibilities of the reader/viewer experience. Since the unique reader reception and experience of a text forms a significant part of the field textual studies, it follows that these paratexts, which vastly expand the potential ways in which a viewer might approach these shows, necessitate closer study. However, it is important to remember their place as companion texts which, produced further away from the primary text, are only a part of the large network of information and materials which form the "worlds" of Lost and Heroes.