Back in October, a UK resident made headlines around the world after he launched a crowdfunding campaign to have Nickelback banned from booking a tour or playing any concerts in London. The tongue-in-cheek campaign was a flop, but attracted a lot of attention.
It also attracted a lot of criticism, with many fans and even non-fans of the Canadian group targeted by the campaign insisting that the Nickelback hate had simply gone past the point of being clever and ironic and was just getting old now.
We must say, we sort of feel the same way about this new petition to have the name of the new MGM film Creed changed, in order to prevent confusion with the much-maligned post-grunge band known for hits like ‘With Arms Wide Open’ and ‘Higher’.
“The movie CREED about the son of Rocky Balboa’s deceased trainer’s son, is making it difficult, if not impossible, for the still-vital online Creed fanbase to exchange thoughts and discussion regarding band developments, song interpretation, rumors, non-erotic fanfiction, and deeper insights into the expanded Creed universe,” the petition reads.
“MGM has completely disrespected the Creedmunity by using the name of the still-popular band for their non-Creed related movie and have been stifling conversation by flooding social media hashtags and searches with non-music Creed discussion.”
“MGM should have consulted Creed experts and online leaders before titling this movie. The Creedmunity will not be silenced,” it continues. “I can guarantee that if MGM does NOT change the title that no self-respecting Creed fan will EVER see this movie, not even on bootleg!”
The organisers of the petition, which at the time of writing has garnered just over 150 signatures, even suggest a few alternative titled for MGM’s new tentpole picture:
Rocky’s Creed
Boxer Creed
Son of Creed (although, this was the title of a rare 2002 leak of studio demos, the title was never officially used by the band, and thus is not considered canon)
Apollo Creed’s Son
Rocky: Son of Creed (while this makes it look like it’s a reveal that Rocky was Creed’s son, this is just an idea and MGM’s marketing department can make it work somehow)
Rocky: The Next Generation
Creed (not the band)
According to Mashable, this amusing if slightly overcooked gag is the work of Los Angeles-based filmmaker and Pluto TV content creator Nick Robinson, who responded to Mashable‘s prompts for comment by insisting he’s simply trying to protect the Creed brand.
“This petition was started because a lot of the promise of the internet was to give a voice to those who had none – Facebook and Twitter, especially, have accomplished that. However, it’s easy to forget how any sort of speech can be choked out by hijacking and taking over the use of words,” he writes.
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“For instance — if Rihanna were to release a song called ‘Mashable’ and her interpretation made the word mean something horrible, before long social media searches and discussions of Mashable.com would be incredibly difficult to achieve.”
“Teens would be calling each other ‘mashable’ and using it in vines, and making fun of the website in such volume that the website wouldn’t be able to serve it’s [sic] function anymore. This is basically what MGM has done with the band Creed, they’ve mashabled it.”
“Fans can no longer easily connect with one another and new discussions have ceased. I’m just trying to give them their voice back. I have no qualms with the movie itself, it looks great!” We’ve gotta admit, Robinson’s response is pretty amusing.
However, maybe it’s time we get over this whole ‘ironic rousing political action against an unfashionable and arguably crappy band’? It’s been done and what’s more, it’s been done even better by the Queensland Police. We’re hereby calling for a break from this whole schtick. Maybe we ought to launch a petition?
