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FACEBOOK PAGE & Sticker Campaign

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 (Edited)

I brought this idea up a while ago, but now that the blu-ray release date is impending, and it had been confirmed that the OOT will not be included, I'm wondering if anyone would like to participate.

The idea is to warn unsuspecting consumers by creating a sticker that says something along the lines of "WARNING: This Blu-Ray set DOES NOT contain the ORIGINAL '77-'80-'83 versions of the Star Wars Trilogy. BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK!"

I know that many of these sets will be sold online (though I'm sure there are already "warnings" up in the review section at Amazon). But a physical, visual message would raise awareness and make a statement, even if it was only on a small fraction of boxes.

If at least one person from each state would volunteer, that'd be a good start.

Thoughts?

EDIT: We're not doing the sticker-on-box idea due to potential legal issues. Please read ahead for other ideas:

FACEBOOK PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/savestarwarsboycotttheblurays

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Any lawyers around? ;-)

I thought of that, but it's still something I'd be willing to do, though I don't want to get anyone else in trouble.

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It's misdemeanor vandalism. But I am in favor of picketing the stores dressed as the deleted Wolfman from the cantina. (I think that guy should be our emblem/mascot)

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I thought this was about car bumper/window stickers for some reason.

It is about time we got a mascot. Besides Lak Sivrak, (who got an action figure right after being wiped from the cantina) we could adopt Sebastian Shaw Anakin, Clive Revill's Emperor, or Palpatine's now exiled pet, Sluggy. ;)

 

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

It's a hilarious idea, but I suspect it's illegal and could really do some serious damage to our reputation.

Darth Sidious says :

^This (from experience).

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I've taken part in similar campaigns.  One project was called http://www.freespeechforsale.com/ and was a CD which protest how culture is controlled, the CD was 100% recycled and according to most lawyers could not be sold.  So to be heard, the CDs were droplifted. (the opposite of shoplifting, you leave the CD in the store [more on droplifting: http://droplift.org/Copies were droplifted and some of the participants were noticed but nothing major.

We can make up the design and release a .pdf which is ready to print onto stickers you can easily get in Staples or other stores.  This is a form of consumer advocacy.  People download and print out at home, then go do what they can.

http://www.staples.com/Staples-Sticker-Paper/product_490429

There was a similar campaign, where a guy made up stickers which were placed at gas stations which stated 'Thank you for supporting terrorism' and had a bunch of facts about how they were linked.  This is another option for this campaign, the stickers could state: "Purchasing this Blu-Ray reduces the memory of an Academy Award winning film"  possibly too esoteric (and the Academy is stupid), so the 'This is not the 77-80-83 version' is a better angle, but do those dates register with the audience purchasing these in a store?  *EDIT* ("The 1977 Special Effects Academy Award is not present on this Blu-Ray")

Set up a blog or tumblr which is the hub for the effort, and see if blogs pick up the idea, and then if people print out their own.

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Baronlando said:


It's misdemeanor vandalism. But I am in favor of picketing the stores dressed as the deleted Wolfman from the cantina. (I think that guy should be our emblem/mascot)


My cousin's a lawyer- she'll represent me when I get busted. Hopefully the judge will be an OOT fan. ;-)

Too hot for costumes in this part of the country, but I like the Wolfman mascot idea!
http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/f/ff/LakSivrak.jpg

SilverWook said:


I thought this was about car bumper/window stickers for some reason.

 

That's a good idea, long overdue. I'd definitely put one on my car. What should it say?

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Let's do it. This is the next civil rights movement here. That was illegal, but it was right. Same with this SW sticker campaign.

Where are the stickers? I'm ready.

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none said:
I've taken part in similar campaigns.  One project was called www.freespeechforsale.com and was a CD which protest how culture is controlled, the CD was 100% recycled and according to most lawyers could not be sold.  So to be heard, the CDs were droplifted. (the opposite of shoplifting, you leave the CD in the store Copies were droplifted and some of the participants were noticed but nothing major.

We can make up the design and release a .pdf which is ready to print onto stickers you can easily get in Staples or other stores.  This is a form of consumer advocacy.  People download and print out at home, then go do what they can.

There was a similar campaign, where a guy made up stickers which were placed at gas stations which stated 'Thank you for supporting terrorism' and had a bunch of facts about how they were linked.  This is another option for this campaign, the stickers could state: "Purchasing this Blu-Ray reduces the memory of an Academy Award winning film"  possibly too esoteric, so the 'This is not the 77-80-83 version' is a better angle, but do those dates register with the audience purchasing these in a store?

Set up a blog or tumblr which is the hub for the effort, and see if blogs pick up the idea, and then if people print out their own.


That's a great idea. I actually did something similar once too when I was doing promotion for a rock band- we were given flyers to stick in CD racks near the band's CDs.

What about a facebook page?

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Any website which is public and has little chance of getting removed.  The more created the harder it is to get word squashed.  The .pdfs can be made with combinations of phrases or just one phrase.  The more phrases the better so everyone get out your writer's cap and suggest anything.  Variety is the spice of life so from political like "Senator Amidala does not support this Blu-Ray" or "Senator Palpatine supports your suppression of the Original Trilogy in the purchase of this blu-ray" to underground "Sebastian Shaw has a Posse" the wider the opinions the better chance of drawing in the crowds.

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This reminds me of the home-brewing stills that you could buy in areas where it was illegal to make hard liquor at home... the way the manufacturers would get around it was by saying: "this item is for decoration only, do NOT do the following steps or illegal liquor will result! ... (1)... (2)... etc."  So you could publish, "do NOT print out these onto stickers and do NOT stick them in stores selling the blu ray.  :)

Still would totally ruin any reputation we still have, and might even get the forum shut down if the campaign was traced back here.  I highly recommend against it, as tempting as it sounds.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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What about just printing out flyers and placing them in the blu-ray racks, rather than sticking stickers directly to the boxes? That's not vandalism, as it's not directly marring the packaging?

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

Still would totally ruin any reputation we still have, and might even get the forum shut down if the campaign was traced back here.  I highly recommend against it, as tempting as it sounds.

As effective as a sticker campaign might be, it could ruin some of our credibility, as an organized, reliable group for film for preservation. I'd like to think that we aren't depicted as fanatics and emotionally-driven by the public and more levelheaded in preservation. Maybe YouTube videos with "Don't You Forget About Me" could work and comparisons, but I don't think physical stickers is good.

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How about a website which features an opening crawl style description of the issue? Y'know, "It is a period of turmoil. Cinema lovers everywhere are opposed by the dreaded LUCASFILM EMPIRE, which threatens to keep the original Star Wars trilogy forever locked in secrecy... etc. etc."

Also, if you want to start a blog or site encouraging activity on this issue, you could link to it in public using QR codes like the following:

Slogans could be things like "Join the Rebel Alliance!" and "Save Star Wars - You're Our Only Hope!"

The best way, of course, would be to grab everyone purchasing the BluRays, so maybe even sticking posters like the above next to the shelves would encourage curiosity, though perhaps a url should be included below the QR code for those that don't know how to scan 'em.

This could all be done on top of the sticker campaign, of course.

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Just unsuccessfully tried to make a Star Wars mix of "Don't You Forget About Me" by matching the Main Title to it.  Sounds awful, but it was worth a try. lol

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Mielr wrote:

What about just printing out flyers and placing them in the blu-ray racks, rather than sticking stickers directly to the boxes? That's not vandalism, as it's not directly marring the packaging?

Yeah this is semi-more legit, make up a one or half page info packet and ask people to hand it out in front of stores selling the product.  But stores can claim these people are a nuisance and move you farther and farther away.

If you've heard of the 'Yes Men' (http://theyesmen.org/), a stunt they did last fall involved handing out during the day a post card which claimed "with this card you could get a free 'Conflict Free iSomething' Go to the NYC Apple store at 6pm to collect".  What they did at 6pm was have a slew of people ready with hand outs which discussed the exploitive methods involved in the production of the Apple devices. 

Here's an article: http://gawker.com/5694967/apple-not-amused-by-pranksters-fake-iphone-site

If you haven't seen 'The Yes Men Fix The World' it's worth the time: http://vodo.net/yesmen

Having an easy to remember website location would be nice, but if a link goes viral, that won't matter.  We can also just start writing out the basic text of why this matters and what the campaign's goals are.

Credibility comes and goes.

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rpvee said:

Just unsuccessfully tried to make a Star Wars mix of "Don't You Forget About Me" by matching the Main Title to it.  Sounds awful, but it was worth a try. lol

Oh wow, I gotta' hear this!

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TheoOdo said:

rpvee said:

Just unsuccessfully tried to make a Star Wars mix of "Don't You Forget About Me" by matching the Main Title to it.  Sounds awful, but it was worth a try. lol

Oh wow, I gotta' hear this!

I'm telling ya, it's awful.  It was a rush job to begin with and the concept was crap.  This is no reflection of my editing skills.  :P

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FX1KSJRJ

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Mielr said:

 


What about a facebook page?

 

We could try. It's a new age of social networking, so maybe it'd make a dent. It'd be worth a shot, I suppose.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

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We need to get this guy on milk cartons:

 

 

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It might be more productive if someone designed a token, like a bank note or bond which said something to effect that the sender of the token promised to purchase a blu-ray set when (and only when) it included a restored HD version of the OT.

If instead of buying the current sets on the release date token holders posted their promissory to Uncle George he might get an idea of the real greenbacks he is missing out on.

It would need a catchy name and design which people could download and print off.

A Twitter/Facespace campaign could keep tabs on people who sent their bond to Lucas.

There have been some notable people backing some of the activities on here and getting them to endorse the scheme would serve as publicity for positive activism rather than vandalism.