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

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

By

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…
How to deactivate your Instagram account (or delete it)
A person holding a phone with the Instagram app open on it.

Oh, social media. Sometimes it’s just too much, folks. If you’re finding yourself in a position where shutting down your Instagram account for a period of time sounds good, Meta’s powers that be have made it pretty simple to deactivate your Instagram account. It’s also quite easy to completely delete your Instagram, although we wouldn’t recommend this latter option if you plan on returning to the platform at a later date.

Read more
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Incogni: Recover your privacy and remove personal information from the internet
Incogni remove your personal data from brokers and more

Everything you do while online is tracked digitally. Often connected to your email address or an issued IP, trackers can easily identify financial details, sensitive information like your social security number, demographics, contact details, like a phone number or address, and much more. In many ways, this information is tied to a digital profile and then collated, recorded, and shared via data brokers. There are many ways this information can be scooped up and just as many ways, this information can be shared and connected back to you and your family. The unfortunate reality is that, for most of us, we no longer have any true privacy.

The problem is exacerbated even more if you regularly use social media, share content or images online, or engage in discussions on places like Reddit or community boards. It's also scary to think about because even though we know this information is being collected, we don't necessarily know how much is available, who has it, or even what that digital profile looks like.

Read more