“Black Mirror,” Netflix’s skillful manipulative marketing

Known for being a scathing satire of technological excesses, Black Mirror returned for a seventh season, rather well-received by critics, on April 10 on Netflix.

But the British series is making headlines for an unexpected innovation.

The platform "went so far as to show different versions of the same episode to viewers to make them undergo the same mental manipulation as that inflicted on the main character," notes the British site GamesRadar + .

Beware of spoilers, continues the specialist site.

This is episode 2, titled Bête noire, which centers on “a food scientist, Maria [Siena Kelly], whose life is turned upside down when an old high school friend, Verity [Rosy McEwen], is hired on her team.”

The latter has a gadget that allows her to alter reality. And she uses it to turn her colleagues against Maria.

“When Maria and Verity argue over the name of a fast-food chain, Maria is adamant: she knows the name is Barnies.” But when she does a web search, the name has become “Bernies.” Or maybe it’s the other way around…

As noted by netizens cited by GamesRadar + , Netflix did indeed produce two versions of the episode.

Without officially confirming this point, the platform's X account replayed the scene by posting a message saying "Bernies" to which the Black Mirror account replied "Barnies" .

But that's not the only meta element that fits into the streaming giant's marketing.

Episode 4, "Just Toys," tells the story of the creation of a video game featuring little creatures, the Thronglets, halfway between The Sims and Tamagotchi, summarizes The Verge .

“The difference is that these creatures that need to be cared for are actually alive. This makes for a dark and surprising plot,” the American site continues.

Still looking for a place in the video game sector, Netflix “has launched what is perhaps its most interesting game adaptation of a series.”

Because Thronglets is available for download for subscribers of the platform. And the idea works, according to The Verge.

As in the episode, the creatures speak directly to the player. “Sometimes to give them advice, sometimes to ask existential questions, like about the meaning of death.”

The last example of meta reference is arguably much less flattering for Netflix.

As the American magazine The Atlantic notes , the first episode of this season (Ordinary People) features an unscrupulous start-up.

Amanda (Rashida Jones) is rescued from her coma by the startup Rivermind, which charges her an increasingly expensive subscription fee so she can continue to fully use her own brain… without ads.

“Rivermind is Black Mirror’s best case yet of ‘emmerdification’ – a colloquial term for the gradual [intentional] degradation of services provided by profit-oriented platforms,” analyzes The Atlantic.

A paradox, given that Netflix has been steadily increasing its prices and has been offering an ad-supported subscription plan for less than three years. This was previously unthinkable.