As a psychology graduate, I took sociology and cross-cultural psychology classes. We learned about the effects of media and how it has been used to manage people’s perceptions throughout history. I’ve also studied this, since it’s closely related to my major. And honestly, this promotion feels like a great example. For anyone who’s interested, I want to break it down.
Firstly, nothing and I mean nothing is random in this process. They have instructions on how to react, how to approach the situation, and, if you ask me, even pre-written lines.
They used the very same method Jancy and Murray used to expose the lab: “Water it down.”
First they set up the ground for people to realise there might be a love triangle. “With who”. They knew most of the people wouldn’t see that though they don’t even see Byler as a possibility.First week signaled Bylers very subtly (well, not subtle for us, but impossible to notice for the general audience) downplaying Mileven as a start “ that Indiana sky <3” “She’s gone Bro” “Putting Byler lego together” Then they slowly started with “crazy together” references and the “core four confirmation,” emphasizing Will as the main character.(Watching Will center episodes , Noah sitting alone) This gave the Byler fandom confidence and they did it while downplaying Mileven in every possible way. Unfortunately, Finn became the easiest target for this, and he got a lot of hate, which is very, very sad.But they are all brave about all these.
So at first, they made Mileven seem unserious while signaling the Byler fandom to do the promo work for them. They knew we would get the hints first weeks they worked with us. During week two, they were less subtle about downplaying Mileven which caused huge backlash with the “candlestick” thing but this is very much helped people to react and start promoting Mileven negatively.And everyone was questioning the reasons behind it. Why did they promote a Byler scene with Finn and Noah, but made the Mileven one look like a joke…
They had already built so much confidence within the Byler fandom not only did the fandom grow, but we also did most of the promotion ourselves, spreading it so much that the general audience started to notice. People were already questioning things, and with week three, they pushed it even further.First Mileven’s break up got emphasized many times made it seem like a light funny thing meanwhile MBB emphasizes El’s individuality arc.
They shared stills where El being a absolute badass which what we want from our girl. Hyped audience about her abilities and heroism. Help them see her outside of the Mileven. Meanwhile Byler living together confirmation help audience see their narrative together. (+Love triangle magazine covers.)
They shared the videos that the they could reply to on their own accounts, while the Byler rain fight which needed to be seen by a wider audience was posted by Netflix itself, with very telling captions between the two videos.
They know their fans so well and exactly how to approach them. Each week, they slowly increased the seriousness around Byler while downplaying Mileven to the point where even people who used to say “there’s no evidence of Byler” started calling it “queerbaiting.”Now I’m so excited about what they are planning for season 4.
some photos are from here
(I couldn’t find where I got the S2 rewatch photo from I’m sorry)