Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Theater community rages against AT&T for ill-conceived tweet

By

amc ceo actually wants to allow texting in movie theaters theater
wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock
For many theatergoers, using your phone during a performance is the biggest sin any ticket buyer could commit, aside from getting up and making incredibly loud noises. Unfortunately for AT&T, the company didn’t get that memo, as the theater community roasted the national carrier for an interesting tweet that was recently published, reports Playbill.

Now deleted, the tweet shows an image of someone using their phone to watch a football game during a theater performance. “Catch a winning play at the theater,” read the tweet. “Don’t let life get between you and football.” Seeing how AT&T is one of the NFL’s many business relationships, and the first games of the 2015 NFL season were this past week, the timing of the tweet makes sense:

AT&T tweet
Image used with permission by copyright holder

AT&T offered a mea culpa via PhoneArena, saying, “Certainly it’s evident our ads take place in an alternate reality and are not meant to be taken literally. The broad concept of the campaign is that you see content just about anywhere.” Still, the theater community was none too thrilled at the insinuation that you should be on your phone during a performance instead of actually watching the performance you paid for if these tweets are any indication:

Recommended Videos

Interestingly, many of these reactions to AT&T’s tweet have since been taken down by their respective Twitter profiles, but the message is loud and clear: There are many who believe that using a phone during a theater performance is rude and obnoxious. Just ask Broadway star Patti LuPone, who snatched a theatergoer’s phone while performing because that person continually used her phone throughout the play.

Topics
Williams Pelegrin
Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more
How to download Instagram photos for free
Instagram app running on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Instagram is amazing, and many of us use it as a record of our lives — uploading the best bits of our trips, adventures, and notable moments. But sometimes you can lose the original files of those moments, leaving the Instagram copy as the only available one . While you may be happy to leave it up there, it's a lot more convenient to have another version of it downloaded onto your phone or computer. While downloading directly from Instagram can be tricky, there are ways around it. Here are a few easy ways to download Instagram photos.

Read more