Hi. Dont know if you all have noticed but apparently MacDonalds TV has this magician showing a tricks and then say they can learn it to by SMSing their number and being charged $2 for it. $2??? Thats like cheaper than some instant downloads from some website. This is really something to be of concern man. Ha. And the effect they showed was not that bad either. The one i saw was called 4 robbers named jack. Put 4 jacks at the top of the deck then put 3 into the deck saying they are robbing the place. Then "Puff!" They appear back on top when the police comes. Is the magic scene in Singapore going to be more worse? Who knows? So whoever is doing a similar effect like this, be warned. Haa.

Just my 3 cents (increase by 7% gst)

I kind of have predicted something like this to happen. Come a group of magician who just teach anyone they wish. So far i haven come across a person like that. We as a magician must keep our secret to only our fellow magician. Now all we can do is not to perform that effect too much if we do.

3 cents. That's a good one. :D

I just saw this effect being done by someone 2 days ago in Brunei. I'm here for holiday. You mean it is from McDonalds?

We as magicians should not even shared it with other magicians as well. This is the basic code of conduct. Any fellow magicians who wants to know how a trck is performed should go and purchase it from the authorised dealer.... in this way it would be fair to the those magicians that come out with these tricks. If not who/how are you going to determine the definition of a magician?

cheers
silverdream

Yes i agree , sometime things just come out from my mouth/fingers. Do Macdonald know about it? Maybe we should tell them about it.

Do you think they will care if you let them know about it?

Maybe, the best way might be to included a 'petition list' with signatures from magicians who oppose the exposure. Maybe the next SMC meeting would be a good place to do so. Addressed to the headquarters... not the nearest mcdonald's cafe. They might oppose if they find out that it is not just one person who is unhappy about exposure.

Its not really exposure exposure. More like you sms $2 to the SMS number and u get the explaination of that card trick. But still to me its quite easily available.

Tip-off: My uncle is kinda working for that company that is in charge of those ads. See if I can do anything about it.

- harapan. magic!

I cannot agree with you all. Really, the trick is very simple. In fact I am surprised by the fact that they actually charge money for it.
Well, certainly, if it is exposure of marketed material that rightfully belongs to a particular magician, then it is no doubt unethical. But from the description I don't think it is. (And I don't think MacDonald will do that.)

Secondly, I think magicians cling onto secrets too much. Magic is not only about secrets. And certainly, you DON'T want your spectator to think that too. So, yes, it is important not to expose secrets but don't view it as some gold mine. There are many far more important things.

I am not supporting MacDonald. Really. It's just that it really wasn't much of a fuss. Before you start throwing tomatoes at me (which I will happily freeze them for you :D ), Mac King actually teaches the trick Mabas mentioned as well as a few other simply ones on the World's Greatest Magic Series. But I really wonder, how many layman really use those tricks? Not to mention those who get bored of it in less than 1 week? And how many people actually remember them?

That may be true but how often do we watch Mac King here in Singapore compared to sitting at Macs and seeing that advert to get it thru sms? Ha. Anyway, also agree with Icy. That isnt that a "gold" mine a trick. But to me, its the principle that they are teaching that, in a manner that u can buy at at $2 that makes me dont like it. Anyway, to each his own. :D And then some ppl will also argue that this will cause magician to perform better stuff (insert your typical penn & teller exposure arggument here). It's all relative I suppose?

Then we come into understanding what the 2 dollar is for, charity? or own company's benefit? If you ask me to teach a trick each time to a laymen and you get $2 or $5 for it and it went to the charity, I do it. Seriously, if it is a good case, I dun mind teaching them simple, self working effect that in fact, it can be found in all kind of kid's magic book, or some website that give people free tricks.

Yes, in short, its the purpose of the money spent, and what extend you go to teaching them, I wont teach them the biddle trick, though it simple, but it expose the mechanic side of a magician, and from there, they will know that certain mechanic is used for magic.

Like some of you have mentioned, its up to the individual, i meant if someone out there, want to teach an effect, let say, ACR for $10 bucks, half of the time, people will say, nah, I not interested, or they say, cool, heres the 10 bucks, and you teach them a double undercut. They will be kicking their own asses. And no one say the magician cannot teach for $10. It only bring down his own integity.

Ya its not right, and we can protest, but in the end, does the magician care? In my own opinion, its up to our ownself to hold this right, we ourself know that we should respect magic, and even for $100 we wont teach, and holding this culture, those lesser will decrease slowly. You cannot stop how people think, but you can stop how you think. :) thats enough i think.

After all, does it really matter?

In this age where audience's expectation of "magic tricks" are highly increased, it should not come to a worry that such things are happening.

Take a look at Penn and Teller, they expose stuff, yet they have produced some of the finest magic in the the scene.

Are you worried because you are using that trick to fool your audiences? I think you should be sourcing out for new tricks then.

We as magicians must constantly source out, create new things for our audiences to perceive and enjoy. Not spat over some small thing that is happening in McDonalds.

Till the day McDonalds teaches classic force through the ads for 2 bucks, improve your magic.

I'm not too in favour of exposure, and in fact, am not too sure about what Penn and Teller are doing despite their success.

But for this MacDonald thing, i think it's very minor exposure and is easily tolerable.

Anyway, I finally saw the ad in mac liao. By chance though. He name it the jack robbers.

if I not wrong, he teaches them using d******, because the presentation justify that. And if he really teach the real method, I doubt anyone can understand by jus reading sms..

So for that effect, it can be easily thought out by a magician. So I personally dun feel the threat at all.. :)

Yes, Icy has made several good points... things like that, which is beyond your control, should inspire you to improve your stuff right? ;)

I feel that it's not exposure in the sense that they reveal it for free, as compared to say, watching the masked magician on cable TV. Macs still charges a fee for this classic trick (no problem with royalties or IP), so only people who are interested will take it up.

Who knows... Maybe some of these may be seriously interested in magic & this could be a platform for them to explore more. :lol: I believe everyone has to start from somewhere ^_^ So, chill people!

ning

:D Well, after reading all this, I suppose the cons aint so bad? Well thats the end of discussion. The End. :)