So I came across this term in a Wired Jargon Watch yesterday.

Dark marketing n. Discreetly sponsored online and real-world entertainment intended to reach hipster audiences that would ordinarily shun corporate shilling. McDonald’s is the latest mega-brand to adopt this paradoxical promotional tool, with an alternate-reality game called The Lost Ring, nearly devoid of golden arches.

Another example of this would be the Camel “underground” party at the Mayan a few weeks back with the Mutaytor at the Mayan. They gave out free smokes, airbrush hats and shirts (I got a trucker hat that said “Spaceman” on it) and really lame furry hats (I used mine as a punishment hat, like if you said something lame, you had to wear it).

I am no enemy of marketing. I like marketing. I also find it very interesting, this new breed. Marketing is like a virus, right? We, as media savvy consumers have built up pretty strong immunities to most types of marketing. We generally don’t watch TV or fast forward through commercials. We choose brands based on “objective” reports on the internets. We shop for clothes that specifically do not advertise. We know music because our friends play it or give it to us. We are the hip, elusive market they are looking for.

This viral dark marketing is a way to circumvent all that. It’s a way for our participation in the marketing to invest us into it. We can get mad at the corporations for trying to sell to us, or we can just learn to stop worrying and love the man. They even gave it a cool, secret name. Makes me think of black magic or something. And in a way, advertising is like that. It’s a dark art.

The thing is, the way that these companies are going to reach us is through us. We are both the medium and the target.  How do we practice dark consuming, i wonder?  How do we use their financing to entertain ourselves and our friends?  Its already happening all around us. Why should we resist?

By the way, this post was written on a macbook.