The 89th Academy Awards ceremony saw a major goof up on the Best Picture category because ‘La La Land’ was announced winner instead of ‘Moonlight.’ The unfortunate incident was attributed to the wrong envelope being in the hands of the announcers. It will go down in the history of live television as one of the biggest blunders ever.
Of course, a section of people see it as a marketing stunt to boost the ratings of the show. It is a fact that Oscar ratings have not been rising as they should - according to Nielsen, it has been gradually going downhill.
From 43.7 million in 2014 it dropped to 37.3 million in 2015 and then to 34.3 million last year.
How did the mix-up happen?
The duo of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway was on the stage to announce the Oscar for Best Picture. The cast of both ‘La La Land’ and ‘Moonlight’ were present on the stage and, the announcers had the wrong envelope. The result was chaos because, based on the wrong envelope, they announced ‘La La Land’ as the best picture instead of ‘Moonlight’ – this was not correct.
Was it really an error?
One school of thought believes that such a major mistake cannot happen in an event that is into its 89th year. They see it as an intentional plot to boost its sagging ratings. Rob Frankel, branding strategist at Frankel & Anderson, has expressed his opinion to a section of the media.
He says it was not an accident but a planned event.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has accepted the complete blame. It is the accounting firm that has overseen the counting of Oscar ballots for 83 years and, while regretting the incident, has added that it is investigating how such a mix-up could have happened.
What is the outcome?
Academy Awards is an annual event where the stars of the tinsel world arrive in large numbers to hog the limelight and those who win Oscar see it as proof that they have become an integral part of the world of entertainment. This year’s gaffe is tailor-made for comedians to dream up suitable skits that would keep the audience in good humor.
