"Viral marketing" is all the rage these days, but what's now considered "going viral" is just something that's been pushed on the public with help from publicists and bloggers (yep, sorry). On the other hand, sometimes the denizens of the Internet take what's supposed to be a straightforward media release -- in this case, the first photo from the upcoming "Paddington" -- and turn it into the sort of meme that would make culture jammers proud.The first still from "Paddington" shows our little buddy standing in front of Buckingham Palace (above), suitcase in hand and a small smile on his stuffed little face. So adorbs, right? Nope. Everyone on the Internet -- we checked, everyone -- thinks it's creepy as heck. Some wiseacres began Photoshopping Paddington into all sorts of photos and screenshots, from that darn Ellen group selfie to classic horror movies, and thus #CreepyPaddington was born. It's not the sort of publicity the studio behind the movie was looking for, but then again, it's not as if the type of people who create memes like this were going to line up at the ticket window on Christmas morning to see what the fuss is all about.
Then again, director Paul King's previous work is pretty weird and awesome, such as "The Mighty Boosh" and "Bunny and the Bull," so maybe this is all part of a greater plan.
Check out some of the internet's best work below.
[via E! Online, Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr]