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The kiss cam. It’s the nightmare of shy introverts. This is the phenomenon where a roaming camera at a live event, like a concert or game, lands on two people who are then implicitly encouraged — or expected? — to lock lips for the big screen.
Its dark side came to play during the Coldplay concert moment heard around the world.
It took place mid-July at a stadium in a Boston suburb. A camera pointed at fans captured one couple in an embrace who, upon seeing themselves on a big screen, ducked out of view suspiciously and prompted an online effort to uncover their identities.
The moment went viral and blew up their lives. Internet sleuths identified the man and woman as executives of tech company Astronomer. Both were married to other people. In the aftermath of the incident, they were forced to leave their jobs, their faces plastered across national news and social media feeds, mocked and judged.
The situation was so cringe, it begs the question of why kiss cams even exist — and how one can avoid them.
To be clear, MPR News does not condone secretive affairs — The Coldplay situation just inspired a line of questioning relevant to many with perfectly legitimate reasons, like those reluctant to hard launch their romantic interests.
For example, recall the awkward moment in 2014 when a kiss cam targeted siblings at a Gopher’s hockey game. See the viral video here: Guy Pulls Out Sign on Gophers Kiss Cam
Why do kiss cams exist?
Apparently, many people want the attention.
“It’s easily the number one requested ask of fans to me directly: ‘Hey, how can we get on the screen?’” said Sam Henschen, senior director of game day entertainment for the Minnesota Twins.
His role includes overseeing the video boards, music, pre-game ceremonies and happenings between innings.
At Target Field and other venues, kiss cams and other fan cameras — like ones that showcase celebrity lookalikes in the crowd — are ways to engage audiences outside the main event.
“Kiss cam is just one of those things that I always equate to reality TV, in the sense that people love watching reality TV because they like to see how people react to certain situations,” said Henschen.
Mike Wierzbicki is a deputy athletics director with Gopher Athletics, which runs events across venues at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
He explained fan cams in general help celebrate the unique aspects of coming to an in-person event.
“The product of watching a game on TV is only getting better and better and you don’t have to drive to campus, and you don’t have to deal with traffic or whatever it might be,” said Wierzbicki. “We’re trying to find those different ways to celebrate the engagement, the unique aspects of coming to a game that you can't get outside the stadium walls.”
Which Minnesota venues use kiss cams?
MPR News surveyed large concert venues in the Twin Cities, as well as the major professional sports teams of Minnesota.
Wierzbicki said the Gophers do not deploy kiss cams at their games. Instead, they have more family-friendly cameras, like a Little Gopher cam where people hold their babies up like newborn Simba in “The Lion King.”
“I would say that kiss cams are much more infrequent across the country. I’m not sure how many places are still doing them and encouraging any sort of behavior of that sort,” he said.
The Twins, however, do use kiss cams. This is in addition to a range of other cams encouraging people to do things like dance, drum or sing along.
Other responses:
Minnesota United: “We do not do kiss cam-type fan cams at Minnesota United games and to my knowledge, they do not happen at other non-game events at Allianz Field. We have fan cams that show fans throughout pregame, halftime, postgame, but these do not have any specific theme, such as a kiss cam or celebrity comparison cam. That will be our only comment on this question.”
Minnesota Wild: “The Minnesota Wild do several fan cams but not the Kiss Cam.”
St. Paul Saints: “We don’t do a kiss cam out here. Haven’t for a few years. We try not to do a lot of the same stuff other places do.”
Xcel Energy: “The use of fan cameras at concerts at Xcel Energy Center is under the discretion of the artist and their production crew.”
The last response is curious because the Minnesota Frost reported they don’t have much input on fan cams during games. “Production is provided by Xcel Energy staffers and their production team so I don't think it would be appropriate for us to comment,” wrote one spokesperson.
Spokespeople for the State Fair Grandstand, Minnesota Lynx and Minnesota Vikings also declined to comment for this story.
MPR News had not received a response from Target Center, U.S. Bank Stadium and the Minnesota Timberwolves as of Thursday evening.
How can you avoid being caught on camera?
According to the experts: Look bored. Be on your phone.
Henschen said camera operators are scanning for people visibly having fun, drawing attention to themselves and looking at the big screen.
He said if people don’t see the board, they aren’t likely to react to being caught on camera, so cameras avoid fans seated in places where they can’t view the video board.
People with arms around each other, or otherwise appearing couple-like, might also draw cameras.
In the past, Henschen said groups or celebrities have reached out to the Twins ahead of time to ask cameras avoid them, so that’s another possibility.
But he warns it’s also the nature of live events.
“In any public event, if there’s cameras around, there’s a chance that you might be displayed on the board, whether it’s a fan cam or in the background of a shot of a concert band, or if the artist runs into the crowd. All those things are like potential things that could happen,” said Henschen.
English (US) ·