‘Webbed Menace’ viral campaign calls Spiderman fans to action

Batman did it, the Avengers tried it and now the Amazing Spiderman is in on the game, namely viral marketing. This site, WebbedMenace.com is the home for Spiderman hate and fans have been asked to “end this masked hooligan’s reign and shine a light on the shadows of vigilantism”. Basically, take a picture of yourself acting like a nut, all the while dressed up as Spiderman.

It’s a sparse site, but fits well into the viral template set down by so many superior campaigns of the same ilk. For now, the crux of the site rests on a five-minute interview with fictional NYPD police captain, George Stacy.

In this video, taken from the 2012 WonderCon comic convention, the actor Denis Leary lambastes Spiderman, informing viewers that he is a “masked menace, just a common vigilante.” The news reporting style of the video nicely cements Spiderman into our reality.

Users can then “act now!” and submit a sighting of “the menace in action”. The actual sightings section of the website is still “coming soon” but users are still welcome to submit Spiderman related images. Users can also submit videos, and any quality will do according to the site.

“Don’t worry about the image quality; Spider-Man moves fast and he works at night (like all evildoers), so we’ll accept grainy video footage and blurry photos. We’ll determine the most compelling and incriminating submissions — you just get us that evidence.”

There’s also a (US only) telephone number to call which runs at the bottom of the viral video, but the number simply tells them to visit WebbedMenace.com. Spiderman launches 3 July, just in time for the Independence Day movie rush. Films released before or on 4 July are usually of the blockbuster fare, and this includes National Treasure, Air Force One and of course Independence Day.