Can Michael B. Jordan Convince You to Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication?

Amazon has enlisted Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson in a “cybersecurity awareness campaign” meant to educate people about phishing and multi-factor authentication (MFA).

The Protect & Connect campaign’s primary draw is a video in which Jordan and Thompson portray “internet bodyguards” who… punch, grapple, and throw a keyboard at cybercriminals:

A longer version of the video on Amazon’s dedicated website(Opens in a new window) for this campaign, which it launched in partnership with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA), expands on this action-packed sequence by revealing that neither Jordan nor Thompson want to eat a frittata. (Really.)

The site itself offers additional resources—including slightly longer videos about phishing, MFA, and the benefits of being more cautious online that don’t feature Jordan or Thompson—as well as a nine-question quiz that encourages visitors to “show off your security know-how.”

Amazon Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt said(Opens in a new window) in a statement that the company’s goal “is to give people simple, concrete steps to take, like enabling multi-factor authentication, that have meaningful security impact despite the complex security threats that exist.”

But it’s hard not to think of this campaign as a counterpart to Ring Nation, a reality show hosted by Wanda Sykes that features videos captured by the Amazon-owned Ring security products, as well as Amazon’s intent to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7 billion.

This campaign specifically uses Jordan and Thompson to raise awareness of basic security practices; Ring Nation uses Sykes to normalize the idea of pervasive surveillance that law enforcement officials can access even without the device owner’s permission.

The campaign also shows there’s an important distinction between security and privacy. Amazon is encouraging people to be more secure online while it works to acquire a company that could give it access to detailed information about people’s homes by way of their robot vacuums.

The core message—that people should be more aware of how they can improve their security—is spot-on. It’s just a shame that Amazon is the company delivering this message despite mounting concern about the effect it could have on the privacy of, well, everyone.