Black Mirror in Real Life

A satirical streaming service mirroring Netflix has come to life.

Black Mirror, the Netflix anthology series offering chilling looks at technology and the near-future, released its sixth season this summer.

Episodes from this season make references to Streamberry, the in-show streaming service with eerie similarities to Netflix.  

To promote the show, Netflix created a Streamberry site in the real world.

Streamberry includes many easter eggs to Black Mirror episodes. But the main feature is a reference to the season six episode “Joan is Awful.”

In the episode, everyday woman Joan discovers she has become the main character of an AI-generated TV show adaptation of her life after failing to read the terms and conditions on Streamberry.

The real-life Streamberry site lets fans upload a photo of themselves and their name to be followed by “is awful.” After uploading a photo of themselves, fans had to consent to the image being used for marketing purposes and to agree to the terms and conditions of the website.

Like Joan, many fans didn’t read the small print. They later discovered billboards with their faces and names captioned with “is awful” across the United Kingdom.

Streamlining Engagement

Many people featured on the billboards took to social media with pictures and praise for the clever campaign.

One fan, coined “Madison is Awful,” created a viral TikTok about being featured in the campaign, sparking a flood of comments from users about their positive opinions on the new season.

The campaign excels beyond a traditional marketing campaign by engaging fans and rewarding them for that engagement. At the same time, it enriches enjoyment of Black Mirror while focusing on themes of tech dystopia that have come to define the show.

This makes the campaign relevant for fans and gives them a great hook to share their experience on social media.