Language school uses spoof subtitles to hijack pirate TV

By Chris Date on Friday, June 14, 2013

In one of the cleverest examples of disruptive media placement seen in a long time, a language school in Peru has taken to tampering with subtitles for illegally downloaded TV programmes in order to promote its services.

All over the world, people will download hit TV series from pirate websites in order to see it first or avoid paying the subscription fee. While we could never of course condone such a thing (!) a quick glance at just how many people are downloading the season three finale of Game of Thrones (1m+) shows you what big ‘business’ it is.

In non-English speaking countries, many people then download an accompanying subtitles file (.srt), because they can’t keep up with the speech onscreen. The Británico English Institute in Peru hit upon the idea of replacing parts of the subtitles with their own lighthearted messages – before directing them to their website in order to brush up on their language skills.

Watch the case study below to see how just how they utilised Breaking Bad, Mad Men et al as vehicles to promote their offering – all for almost zero cost.