Media Heist!
“I would rather watch WWF than Criss Angel…they’re both fake but at least wrestlers bleed.”
“Criss Angel stole an hour of my life.”
“Chris Angel sucks.”
These were three of the new status updates I noticed when I checked up on some of my facebook friends this morning. If you aren’t familiar with status updates, they’re open ended sentences that users update to let others know what they’re doing/thinking. I awoke to a list of anti-Criss (sometimes “Chris”) Angel propaganda on the web this morning. Away messages, IMs and even more status updates raged about their disappointment with last night’s much-hyped stunt.
If somehow you missed it, Criss Angel ’starred’ in a live, hour-long special on A&E last night performing his newest stunt: escaping from a locked building in less than four minutes. Cameras were placed throughout the hotel to give viewers an inside look. The cameras showed Angel race through the building, but when the timer hit zero he was still inside. The building imploded and there was no trace of Angel. Miraculously, Angel walked from the rubble and great the crowd - not scratched, not bruised, not broken.
Right. It took the crowd I was with about three seconds to debunk the ‘illusion’. The popular belief is that Angel never actually ran through the building. That he escaped while viewers watched prerecorded B-roll footage of him running around a building. I found it insulting that Angel and all involved in the ‘trick’ (which felt more like a cop-out) actually believed Americans were stupid enough to believe he actually survived the explosion. In fact, yesterday’s TBT had an article that predicted this very outcome! Kudos.
In my opinion, the biggest story here is no the magic stunt, but the publicity stunt. This story was everywhere yesterday (especially here in Tampa since the stunt was performed across the bay in Clearwater). People gathered to watch the stunt, even though everybody knew the chances of Criss Angel being killed on live television were right next to impossible. I speculate that ratings were up - especially for A&E - and it’s safe to say that Criss Angel’s awareness level among the public has been elevated. The ultimate question, though, is: Is this publicity good publicity?
Sure, there are many who believe the old saying “any publicity is good publicity”, but, is that really true?. Is the negative reaction to this stunt supposed to help Angel sell more tickets in Vegas? Sure, because of yesterday I know that Angel has a 10 year, multi-million dollar deal to perform in Vegas, but at the same time I know there is no way I’ll pay to see him. I am more aware of Criss Angel (In fact, I know that his name is spelled “Criss” rather than “Chris”) now than ever before, but I am also more aware that I find him less credible as a magician.
This morning I heard a radio personality claim he wouldn’t be surprised if this stunt would discredit Criss Angel as a magician and ruin his career. Many message board posts that I read this morning were filled with disgruntled messages calling Angel “a cheat”, “a fake” and even ” coward”. A poll on tbo.com asked “How Did Criss Angel Do It?” with 75% of respondents selecting “He was never in the building. The guy in the building was a movie, like on ‘Scooby Doo’”.
Time will tell. The stunt definitely got people watching, talking, and yes, blogging. Despite a rather negative reaction, awareness and Criss Angel talk/banter is high. I just see the stunt as a missed opportunity. The reaction to the the stunt could have been the exact opposite had it been more believable and mystifying. They promised viewers gold and gave them a fancy ‘coin behind the ear’ trick. A quality act would have won many more fans and much more positive feedback. I’m curious to see what happens to his career from this point forward. For his sake, I hope his fans don’t pull a magic trick of their own and disappear. [ohhh burn]
