July 5th, 2010 was abuzz with internet chatter about the classic film, “Back to the Future”. Why? Because an entertainment site, Total Film, said that it was the day that Marty McFly went “back to the future” to save his future kids in “Back to the Future 2.”
As is want to happen with Twitter, the post was retweeted, then retweeted again, and soon it was a viral internet phenomenon of sorts. Even celebrities got in on the action.
Joe Jonas tweeted, “Today is the day that Marty McFly arrived in the future after hitting 88mph in a Delorean in 1985.” Ivanka Trump added, “Greatest fun fact EVER: Today is the day that Marty McFly arrived in the future in “Back to the Future 2.”
Back to the Future Day DOES sound like the most fun day ever. And it should definitely be celebrated. On October 21st, 2015, which is the ACTUAL day that Marty McFly time travels to in “Back to the Future 2.”
Total Film only admitted that they had mixed up their dates after the hoopla had reached every corner of the internet. According to their apology post, they tweeted the “fun fact” without actually double checking that they had the date right. According to the site, many of their 30,000 Twitter fans had already reposted the goof before some die hard “Back to the Future” fans started to call them out on the mistake. Rather than just a boring “oops” post, they decided to have fun with photo shop and doctor up a still from the film to include with a tongue and cheek “correction.” Or at least what they thought would obviously be a tongue and check correction.
The tweet said: “Many of you don’t believe 5/7/10 [they're British] is mentioned in Back To The Future. So here’s proof we totally didn’t Photoshop.” A link then led to the doctored photograph, which had the caption: “We got it wrong. Apparently 5th July, 2010 isn’t mentioned in Back To The Future. So we went back and changed it.”
Total Film, apparently, overestimated how much attention people pay to what they’re tweeting. Instead of being taken as a funny correction, the photograph was reposted as proof that the 5th of July, 2010 is actually mentioned in the film.
The lesson here? Don’t believe everything you read on Twitter. Especially if you don’t actually read it first.
