RoboCop Marketing Gets Clever With Faux CES Keynote Speech
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The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is always one of the most mind-blowing events of the year, where tech companies unleash everything but the kitchen sink on electronics-minded consumers. (Well, if that kitchen sink happens to connect to WiFi signals, there’s definitely a place for it.) This year’s coolest innovations include gigantic curved TVs, smart watches, 3D printers, and…robotic law enforcement? Well, not exactly, but this is a pretty crafty example of how timely the RoboCop marketing campaign has gotten. I mean, this CES technically won’t happen for another 13 years, but we’re somehow able to put our peepers on it here in 2014.
For the keynote presentation, RoboCop’s creators, OmniCorp, have sent out what looks like Adam Baldwin and David Caruso’s lovechild, who takes us through the different ways in which OmniCorp has made all of our lives better, all while a numbered percentage just keeps rising in the background. Look at that percentage go!
Anyway, we’re shown the ways in which we already know OmniCorp is keeping the country safe, what with the silver fox EM-208, the airborn XT-908, and the big bad motherfucker that used to haunt my childhood nightmares, the ED-209. But none of these behemoths come with a set of morals, and that’s where Alex Murphy’s half-corpse comes in. All hail the RoboCop. (Strange that these people are highly involved in mechanical methodology and still refer to man’s core as his “soul,” rather than his “robo-chakra.”) It all serves to direct people back to the viral website, which you can find here.
It’s a nice touch that doesn’t really get me more or less interested in José Padilha’s upcoming remake, though I find myself warming up to the idea of it, if only because I want to hurry up and get it out of the way. It more or less follows the basic story of the original film, in which Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) finds himself the target of an attack, though his wife is now there to see him turned into the half-man/half-bot. And though no one at OmniCorp expected there to be any free will left inside their sleek black suit, you bet your metal ass Murphy is still human. And he may or may not want revenge.
With its host of awesome supporting actors — including Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Jackie Earle Haley, and Abbie Cornish — RoboCop will blast holes in moviegoers on February 12. Dead or alive, you’re watching the following trailer.
