SMALL PRINT:The annual Technology, Entertainment, Design (Ted) talks have been running for nearly 20 years, and are a non-profit gift to the world. "Riveting talks by remarkable people," the website boasts legitimately, as it shares free videos of speeches by the world's innovators.
However, a recent Ted talk video was filmed separate from the live event and created, essentially, to promote a mainstream film, and people didn’t mind. Why?
Guy Pearce plays a charming, intimidating tycoon in the forthcoming blockbuster Prometheus. A prequel to Alien(and directed by Alien's Ridley Scott), its title suggests a story about man's hubris in the face of his creators. "Those of you who know me, know that my ambition is unlimited," Weyland says in the fictional Ted talk that mimics the event's appearance and uses its logo. In a speech that describes the Greek myth of Prometheus (who stole the technology of fire from the gods and gave it to man), Weyland claims that humans are the new gods, thanks to the technological leaps we've made. "My name is Peter Weyland, and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to change the world," he says to a cheering crowd.
Incidentally, it's reassuring to know that in the future, villainous businessmen will continue to slick their hair back à la Wall Street'sGordon Gecko.
The online community and fans of Ted generally embraced this philanthropic event being used to promote a big budget movie. It's likely that Pearce's charisma, the excitement over Prometheusand the decent scriptwriting of the speech helped. And this sort of thing is not without precedent: Sacha Baron Cohen spilled ashes on Ryan Seacrest at the Oscars recently to promote The Dictator,and in 1997 Chewbacca collected a lifetime achievement prize at the MTV Movie Awards to promote Star Wars. The golden rule seems to be, we don't mind our entertainment being hijacked, interrupted and even a little tainted by stealth commercials, as long as it's done with imagination.
