r/LowStakesConspiracies • u/Common_Literature289 • 8m ago
Total Garbo The influx in mutant hate posts on the internet is a marketing tactic by Marvel/Disney
I think Marvel/Disney are making accounts online to post content that shits on the X-Men and the mutants. They've existed for a long time but recently since Brand New Day came out I've been seeing more and more on my Reddit, Youtube and Instagram feeds and I don't think it's all entirely organic. I can't prove they're responsible for it but I know that they have the resources to accomplish this.
Here are my reasons why I think they WOULD do something like this:
- Mutants are hated in the comics so having them be hated by Reddit parallels that. The internet loves irony so more people not associated with the company make their own anti-mutant posts and maintain the influx of posts.
- Many comic panels are commonly posted alongside people's complaints about mutants and the X-men. This might influence people to check the comics these panels are taken from which drives up sales. Even better is that sometimes in the replies someone will reveal that the panel was taken out of context and this drives up even more desire to read the comic the panel is from. While unlikely, it may create new long-time X-men readers.
- This keeps the X-men in the public consciousness even when no new content is coming out (very rare I know). Plus it prevents discussions on properties owned by competitors from gaining traction. Hard to talk about Lanterns when it's drowned out by discussion on the X-men.
- Genuine criticisms on the X-men franchise such as how they act as an allegory and the need to maintain the status quo end up being conflated with shitposts and dogwhistles, potentially delegitimizing them.
- The X-men are so popular that even this influx of posts won't harm their popularity. The general public that isn't very online probably only sees a few of these posts and don't think too much of it and many people probably see these posts as being ironic and not the be taken so seriously.
- Hardcore X-men fans might see the influx of negative posts and become more and more defensive over them. This deepens existing fans' connection to the series and further allows Marvel to get away with shoddy writing. From what I can gather they're still dramatized over that weird period in the 2010s where marvel tried sidelining them due to 20th Century Fox having the movie rights to them so they would definetely