Eye veiled in white, absent air and small object stuck on the temple, these users stand out from others in London public transport. As hypnotized thanks to the device they wear, they aroused the curiosity of other passengers and Internet users, as evidenced by the many videos relayed in particular on Tiktok. It did not take long for several people to recognize the “Nubbin”, a fictitious device that would make it possible to flee reality, made famous by the dystopian series “Black Mirror”.
While season 7 of the British show is about to be put online on Netflix (April 10, 2025), the “Black Mirror” team has deployed major means to promote it. Many false advertisements have circulated on social networks, with testimonials from people claiming to have bought the “Nubbin”.
The fictitious company TCKR Systems, which markets the object in the series, even created its own accounts on social networks and its website. Tckr Systems has already been mentioned several times in the series, as in the episodes “San Junipero”, “Playtest” and “Black Museum”, among others.
Emails sent “by mistake” to the media
The Hollywood Reporter, an American magazine specializing in cinema, also reported that she received “by mistake”, an email initially addressed to Charlie Brooker, behind the Black Mirror series. But then again, it would be a promotion.
It is an internal and confidential email of the TCKR Systems Communications company preparing the screenwriter for the launch of the “Nubbin”. The media revealed the content of this message that was “confidential”: “Hey Charlie, we are almost ready for the launch of The Nubbin ™ – Whoop! I send you the final elements for a last verification and when you are satisfied, I will send them to the press list that I created “, can be read, followed by another email, this time indeed addressed to The Hollywood Reporter, mentioning” please do not take into account this previous email “. The American magazine clearly specifies in its article that it “is not a real product announcement” but a communication operation.
This is not the first time that the “Black Mirror” teams have made an impression with an advertising campaign to unveil a new season. In 2023, one of them applied to the real world the theme of the first episode of season 6 of the show: free and limitless use of the image of people. Some fans of the series were surprised to discover themselves on advertising panels in the United Kingdom after having generated posters of series bearing their effigy on a site created by Netflix, but without really reading the general conditions.