The coffee cup in Game of Thrones resulted in $2.3 billion worth of free advertising for Starbucks

In the age of the internet, the adage “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” is more relevant than ever before. We got to see this happen in real time as Game of Thrones managed to leave a Starbucks cup in the shot in Season 8 episode 4, “The Last of the Starks“. It has now been estimated that this little goof got Starbucks a whopping $2.3 billion in free advertising, and the cup didn’t even actually belong to Starbucks! Read on.

Game of Thrones aired the episode on Sunday, and pretty soon the fans noticed the cup, and the goof went viral. Becoming an instant meme, it was addressed with humour by Starbucks and HBO, both. An executive producer on the show, Bernie Caulfield, even apologized for the goof and joked that Starbucks should give them money. The cup was actually from the show’s craft services. HBO was quick to edit it out, but all the buzz had already been created.

CEO of marketing company Hollywood Branded, Stacy Jones, estimated that the whole buzz got Starbucks a free advertisement jackpot worth $2.3 billion, judging by the 10627 mentions of this incident online, as well as on TV and Radio, according to data by Critical Mention. She said:

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime collision of opportunity for Starbucks. But really, this is just the tip of the iceberg, because what isn’t being monitored or estimated is the word of mouth and social media on top of this.”

Another analytics firm, Talkwalker, also charted 193,000 mentions of the goof within 48 hours of the episode airing. In either case, Starbucks walked out of this looking pretty slick. What do you guys think? Talk to us in the comments, down below!

Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon is fast on track for its release in 2022. Last week, the crew was spotted filming at various sites in Cornwall. The show’s stars Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy were seen filming on Holywell Beach in costume. Some more photos were leaked, later on, providing a glimpse at another important character, Lord Corlys Velaryon. Today, HBO confirmed the leaks about the character designs and costumes. House of The Dragon official Twitter handle released photos of five characters, providing the world with their official looks.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen & Prince Daemon Targaryen. #HouseoftheDragon pic.twitter.com/uK0FigUbhq

— House of the Dragon (@HouseofDragon) May 5, 2021

The Sea Snake. #HouseoftheDragon pic.twitter.com/mSmqhz1Fkb

— House of the Dragon (@HouseofDragon) May 5, 2021

Alicent Hightower & Otto Hightower. #HouseoftheDragon pic.twitter.com/QI3Bl9pZyJ

— House of the Dragon (@HouseofDragon) May 5, 2021

Fans had earlier known the looks of Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy in their respective characters. The duo was seen filming at Holywell Beach in Cornwall in full make-up and costume. Also, the Daily Mail leaked a few more pictures from the set earlier this week, of the cast and the crew busy in action. They provided the first glimpse of Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, The Sea Snake. But today’s House of The Dragon’s tweet surprised the fans even more. They provided the first costumed look at Otto and Alicent Hightower. In the Tweet, we can see Rhys Ifans and Olivia Cooke glistening in their amazing getup.

Are you excited about House of The Dragon? Talk to us in the comments below!

Photoshoots and campaigns are a big part of a celebrity’s income. However, sometimes they become victims of unfair treatment by publication houses, who use them for publicity. Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke (Daenerys) has filed a suit against Flaunt Magazine over inappropriate use of her ‘hot‘ photos.

According to The Blast, she participated in a photoshoot for Flaunt Magazine back in March of 2019. Clarke agreed on a one-time use in the June 2019 issue of the magazine and a single pre-approved promotional event in Shanghai. She claims she made it crystal clear to Flaunt that any other use of the photographs from the shoot was not permitted without her written approval.

Clarke claims Flaunt granted a Chinese cosmetics company, Perfect Diary, rights of her images that were not Flaunt’s to grant. They wrongfully allowed Perfect Diary to commercially exploit her photographs, voice, name and likeness to promote the brand’s products. Clarke had previously turned down a $700,000 offer to work with Perfect Diary. She alleges that numerous cosmetic companies who might have otherwise done business with her were admittedly misled to believe she was already working with one of their competitors.

She and her team repeatedly demanded that Flaunt cease their behaviour. However, they “brazenly refused to curtail or remedy all of its wrongful conduct.” So she filed the lawsuit seeking compensatory and statutory damages to the tune of $5 million.

Other than that, Emilia is currently busy writing her first comic M.O.M. What do you think about the lawsuit? Tell us in the comments below!

The world is fighting hard against the effects of COVID-19 right now. One of the few things that has kept the population distracted from the ongoing stress is the filming of House of The Dragon. The Game of Thrones prequel has caused quite a buzz amongst the fans. Ever since HBO teased the show back in December last year, fans have been on their toes. People all over the world are highly excited about the upcoming series, and leaked photos of the shoot keep pouring in.

Last week, the production came to a standstill when a crew member accidentally drove a truck into the water. Luckily all of the members were saved and no one was injured. It seems the filming has taken flight once again after the incident and is going on well.

These pictures surfaced yesterday on Reddit when a user named Tobeaned uploaded them on the social media platform. Holywell Beach is about half an hour away from his home, so he decided to pay a visit. Turns out, his trip was beneficial to all Game of Thrones fans who are eagerly waiting for House of The Dragon.

Earlier last week, Matt Smith (Daemon) and Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra) were spotted filming at the same beach. The above photos indicate that a Targaryen base is also being built on the site.

Are you excited about House of The Dragon? Talk to us in the comments below!