Starting with a “breaking news” alert, the controversial Twitter campaign kicked off with a post reading: “Unconfirmed reports are coming in of an explosion of the North bank of the Singapore marina”.
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Video game Call of Duty has been slammed for live-tweeting a fake terrorist attack as part of a PR stunt.
The official Call Of Duty Twitter account reports a blow-by-blow account of a “terrorist attack” on Singapore, which began with an explosion, followed by a government quarantine and the declaration of martial law. This outrage was best seen on the games official Twitter page along with message boards like N4G.
According to Yahoo, Call of Duty developer Activision shocked its 2.8 million followers on Twitter on Tuesday by creating a fake war to promote the newest installment.
The account proceeded to advise Singaporeans to remain indoors due to riots and violent gunfights.
Aimed that teasing fans about the plot for the latest CoD game, many social media users were unimpressed, saying the scenario was in bad taste. “In total, the Call of Duty account sent 19 tweets with updates on the fake terror attack – including quotes from a fake press conference by the Singapore Armed Forces”.
Indeed, one can just imagine how the following tweet, which has been retweeted and favorited several times, would be interpreted by an unsuspecting reader, particularly those residing in the city-state.
The fake news outlet which boasted the tagline “We bring you the real news” was then renamed to its original Call of Duty handle.
Ahead of its worldwide release on 6 November, publisher Activision launched a series of tweets, setting up the opening scene for a fictional attack in Singapore.
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Netizens reacted on Activision’s “Call of Duty” marketing campaign on Twitter.
