What Happens When You Text The Number From The Super Mario Bros. Movie Plumbing Commercial?
Nintendo and Universal Pictures want to get in on that viral marketing energy for the upcoming "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." They put out their latest commercial, and while their original teaser was pretty traditional, at no point in the new ad do they let on that they're advertising for a movie, instead opting to make a fake commercial for Super Mario Bros. Plumbing. There's even a website you can go to called SMBPlumbing.com to learn more about the famous video game brothers and their business. The website even features reviews for the company from the mother of the brothers (Mrs. Mario?), a one-star review from a villain, and a two-star review claiming the brothers left someone's house a mess. Whoops!
At the end of the commercial and on the website, there's a number that says you can call or text to keep up with the business, but you might be weary about making that call or text. Well, we did it for you, so you don't have to go into it blind.
It basically gets you to sign up for a mailing list
When you text the phone number shown at the end of the commercial, you start receiving some texts that don't break character from Super Mario Bros. plumbing. It gives you a link that says you can visit to sign up "to get exclusive updates, service offerings and more." It then takes you to a website asking for basic contact information like your name, phone number, and email address. After that, you get another text saying they will keep in touch with you and warns you about message and data rates, and then it creates a contact for Super Mario Bros. plumbing to add to your phone. If you try to call the number instead of texting, you get a recording of Luigi telling you to text the number or visit the website because this is all much easier to do on the Internet than over the phone.
So ultimately, the entire phone number gag is a do-it-yourself way to spread the word about the movie that almost makes you forget that you're giving your personal information over to a major corporation that's likely to use it to annoy you.