The public prefer an interesting lie to a dull truth
Former ad agency creative director Dave Trott is here with a friendly reminder that lying is fine – as long as you make it interesting.
The Amityville Horror is one of the most successful books and films of all time.
As a book it sold ten million copies, as a film it ran to fifteen sequels and spinoffs:
Amityville II (The Possession). The Amityville Curse. The Amityville Haunting. The Amityville Asylum. Amityville Death House. Amityville Dollhouse. The Amityville Playhouse. Amityville (The Evil Escapes). Amityville (It’s About Time). Amityville (A New Generation). Amityville (No Escape). Amityville (The Awakening). Amityville 3D.
This is very under-informed comment regarding the difference between actual truth and the truth of fiction. Drama ultimately and only, depends on the truth of fiction. Once upon a time… What if? If we frame it right, now matter how extreme the impetus is, human characters in a story will react in believable ways. Spiderman. The Black Panther. The 40 Year Old Virgin. When it works, to the audience, it feels like it could happen. And the framework of the story itself feels believable. Ridley Scott’s “Alien” is essentially a workplace drama with a theme of survival. It is also a horror story, science fiction, and above all a complete fantasy. It is very good. The set-up combines highly plausible behavioural elements with complete fantasy (deep sleep, no gravity problems on a space ship, sentient aliens, etc, etc.). We are not called upon to accept this as truth so much as accept that the actions and reactions of the characters ring true with what we know. How would we act on a spaceship in deep space under those circumstances? We’ll never know. Do we understand the drive to survive in the everyday sense – yes. Selling a fantasy as actual truth is silly and unnecessary, and not a position we actually need to take in drama or advertising in order to succeed.
Its the law of the rule of cool (see tv tropes). Basically the more interesting something is the further an audience is willing to push their suspension of disbelief.
Its harder to do that with real life events now than it was in 1970s.
Also its unethical.
But then you can make money doing a public apology for misleading people. Works as a one-time earner.