????今年情人節(jié)，成千上萬的人敲擊電腦鍵盤、使用網(wǎng)頁瀏覽器不是為了訂購鮮花和勿忘我，而是在操縱一挺機關(guān)槍，瞄準(zhǔn)、射擊一輛由嗜殺成性的虛擬小丑駕駛的冰淇淋卡車。我本來也應(yīng)該是他們中的一員。

????這些人參與的是廣告公司Deutsch LA發(fā)起的射殺卡車（Shoot My Truck）推廣活動。Deutsch的客戶、索尼（Sony）旗下的PlayStation業(yè)務(wù)部門想通過一場熱熱鬧鬧的推廣活動，重新推出其《烈火戰(zhàn)車》（Twisted Metal）特許賽車游戲。Deutsch拿到的有限預(yù)算在通常情況下只夠做一個網(wǎng)頁橫幅廣告，但這家廣告公司選擇了一種非同尋常但引人注目的方式。他們拿出的東西有點古怪，有點前衛(wèi)，頗為吻合《烈火戰(zhàn)車》的暴力美學(xué)。

????Deutsch的首席數(shù)字官溫斯頓?賓奇表示，幾個月前他們就產(chǎn)生了這個想法，讓粉絲們通過自己的電腦，遠(yuǎn)程操控一挺機關(guān)槍，射擊沙漠里一輛類似游戲中的角色Sweet Tooth開著的卡車，最后用C4炸藥將其炸毀——很普通的營銷點子。項目籌備花了五周，實彈射擊時沙漠現(xiàn)場有55個人監(jiān)督和控制整個過程，采用了幾挺M249 SAW輕機槍，進(jìn)行了45次爆炸，最后一次摧毀了目標(biāo)卡車。

????2月14日情人節(jié)這天，Deutsch在Twitter上啟動了#shootmytruck的全國推廣活動，15日繼續(xù)進(jìn)行。在項目網(wǎng)站shootmytruck.com上，實時微博信息列出了很多粉絲的點評，但同時有些人困惑地寫道，為什么要射擊自己的卡車。通過Twitter或Facebook進(jìn)入，粉絲們可參加抽獎，有機會射擊鋼琴、油桶以及目標(biāo)卡車旁的其他物件；幾年前玩過這一系列游戲的玩家都很熟悉卡車這個靶子。

????情人節(jié)這天通過電腦操縱一挺機關(guān)槍進(jìn)行射擊，絕對算不上一個浪漫的點子。但索尼希望它能激活Twisted Metal的玩家群，即青年男性和青少年男性，正是他們驅(qū)動著游戲行業(yè)的銷售。根據(jù)Deutsch的流量數(shù)據(jù)顯示，確實有很多人參與了這一活動：約319,000人訪問了Shoot My Truck網(wǎng)站，在Twitter或Facebook上轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)和點評約10,000次。有這樣的數(shù)據(jù)，不難預(yù)見將來Deutsch或其他廣告公司還會嘗試這樣的電腦結(jié)合實景推廣活動。

????我也登陸了這個網(wǎng)頁，但結(jié)果很失望。技術(shù)故障使我一直無法射擊。通過電腦操控一挺機關(guān)槍進(jìn)行射擊，參與這樣的推廣活動本身就夠怪了，但更怪的是周圍人都能成功地連續(xù)射擊，你自己卻啥也干不了。Deutsch LA稱，此次活動基本上沒有出現(xiàn)技術(shù)故障。“種種活動永遠(yuǎn)無法做到完美無缺，”賓其說。“它不像單純的廣告。它是實時的，必須實時解決所有問題。”他說的可能沒錯，但這話還是說給我蠢蠢欲動、想要扣動扳機的食指聽吧。

????This Valentine's Day, thousands of people used their keyboards and web browsers not to buy flowers or forget-me-nots, but to aim and fire a machine gun at an ice cream truck best-known as the wheels of a homicidal, virtual clown. I was supposed to be one of them.

????They were participating in ad firm Deutsch LA's Shoot My Truck campaign. Its client, Sony's (SNE) PlayStation division, wanted a buzzy campaign to re-launch its Twisted Metal racing game franchise. With a limited budget that would have traditionally gone to pay for banner ads online, the advertisers took a more unusual, eye-catching, and disturbing route. They came up with something off-kilter and edgy, much like the video game's apocalyptic aesthetic.

????Winston Binch, chief digital officer at Deutsch, says the team conceived the idea to have fans use their computers to remotely shoot a machine gun at a truck looking like the game character Sweet Tooth's ride in the desert and then blow it up with C4 explosive -- just your run of the mill marketing idea -- months ago. The setup for the project took five weeks. For the actual shoot, there were 55 people on the ground in the desert overseeing the operation, which used several M249 SAW light machine guns and included 45 explosions, the last of which obliterated the targeted truck.

????The stunt started Tuesday and continued Wednesday, when the team kept #shootmytruck a nationally promoted trend on Twitter. On the project's website, shootmytruck.com, a live stream of tweets showed that many fans were writing about the effort, along with a few lost souls of the social media platform who posted confused messages questioning why they would want to shoot their own trucks. By logging in through Twitter or Facebook, fans were entered in a lottery to get a chance to shoot the pianos, oil drums, and other objects surrounding the truck itself, a well-known target for those who played the series years ago.

????Shooting a machine gun through your computer on Valentine's Day. It's definitely not the most romantic of ideas. But Sony hopes it energized the Twisted Metal fan base, younger male users who drive much of the game industry's sales. Plenty of people did participate, based on the traffic numbers from Deutsch: about 319,000 people visited the Shoot My Truck site, and posted about the event on Twitter or Facebook about 10,000 times. With numbers like that, it would not be shocking to see Deutsch or another agency try an effort with similar computer-to-live environment engagement.

????I was one visitor who walked away disappointed, however. Despite quietly skipping the line, a technical glitch kept me from taking my turn against the truck. One of the only things weirder than shooting a gun for a promotion through a computer is feeling disappointed that you can't when others successful blaze away around you. Deutsch LA says the event went off largely without technical hiccups. "It's never going to be flawless," Binch argues. "It's not going to be like with a pristine ad. This is live, and you've got to work through things in a real-time manner." He is probably right. But tell that to my itchy trigger finger.