‘Smile’ Stands Out With Creepy Photobombing Marketing Campaign

It’s tough for new horror movies to stand out from the crowd, but Paramount has done it with their latest campaign for ‘Smile’. Check out the creepy viral promotions ‘Smile’ had just one week before the film’s release.

Smile (2022) promises creepy supernatural scares when it is released in September.

2022 is turning out to be a banner year for horror movies. There has been a steady stream of horror hitting the big and small screens all year long, and many of the films have been really good. With so much great horror to choose from, it can be difficult for a new release to stand out. Well, the people in the marketing team for Smile have done it. Their latest attempt to get eyes on Smile turned out to be one of the creepiest and best marketing ideas of the year.

On September 23rd, 2022, baseball fans were treated to the sight of people with creepy smiles situated behind home plate of a few MLB games. Most of the people were wearing a bright shirt emblazoned with “SMILE” so you’d know they were part of a campaign, but the creepiest one might have been the guy at the Red Sox/Yankees game. The guy at the Yankees game wasn’t wearing a Smile shirt, and he was extremely disciplined in his efforts.

A man sits and smiles at the Red Sox/Yankees game on September 23, 2022.

As a Twitter user pointed out, not everyone was creeped. Even so, the fact that security even approached the smiler at the Mets/Athletics game drew even more attention to something that was already impossible to ignore.

A smiling woman is asked to sit down at the Mets/Athletics game on September 23, 2022.

Smilers also infiltrated the Dodgers/Cardinals on Sept. 23, and one even photobombed Al Roker on the Today Show.

With these people roaming the streets, Smile easily has the best movie-marketing campaign of the year. Paramount has been heavily promoting Smile online, in theaters, and now out in the public, so even casual movie fans are surely going to be aware of the movie heading into the Halloween season. Smile opens in theaters on September 30, 2022.

Meet The Author

Chris has a degree in film studies at Temple University’s campus in Tokyo, Japan. He is a renowned expert on horror cinema.