What’s going on with this Instagram promotion?

The Ring is simply a fantastic fearfulness movie that inactive gives maine the chills. I tin easy callback the movie’s iconic poster, which features a achromatic ringing connected a achromatic inheritance and a creepy rubric font — I didn’t spot the movie until years aft it archetypal released, but adjacent the thought of it frightened me. So I’m precise confused arsenic to wherefore Instagram picked a akin vibe for the debut of Instagram Rings, a caller “award” that’s intended to observe creators and creativity.

Instagram has assembled a sheet of judges, which includes Spike Lee, Marc Jacobs, Marques Brownlee, and, uh, Instagram caput Adam Mosseri, to “nominate their favourite creators and ballot for who they deliberation deserves a spot connected the last list.” The creators that triumph get a real, carnal ring, and connected their Instagram profile, they’ll get a peculiar aureate ringing that appears astir their illustration picture, volition beryllium capable to customize their illustration backdrop color, and tin “put their ain twist” connected the similar button, according to Meta. The archetypal winners volition beryllium announced “soon.” (A promotional video includes an October 16th day without context, truthful I’m presuming that’s erstwhile they’ll beryllium revealed).

But determination are inactive a batch of questions astir the awards themselves. What is the criteria for the award? How galore radical volition beryllium honored? Is this a one-time thing, oregon thing Instagram plans to bash connected a regular basis? How agelong volition creators support the perks connected their profiles? Meta says the grant celebrates “those who aren’t acrophobic to instrumentality originative chances and bash it their way.” What does that adjacent mean? It’s weird that Meta isn’t spelling immoderate of this out.

And the promotional creation for Instagram Rings is possibly the strangest portion of all, due to the fact that it seems to beryllium precise inspired by The Ring for a crushed that I can’t fig retired but for the information that they some impact rings. Like this banner artwork:

And this representation of the judges:

And this authoritative video astir Rings:

Look, I cognize I mightiness beryllium caring astir these similarities excessively much. But The Ring has a mode of sticking with you that makes this Instagram run basal retired for reasons that it astir apt shouldn’t.