New York Times: Hate being stuck in a movie theater with no choice but to watch advertisements on the big screen?
Get used to it.
Advertisers like these spots, and have been buying more of them. Movie ads are one more alternative to television spots, which are losing favor as TiVo and other digital video recorders make it easier for viewers to zap them.
Vonage plans to use this character in an animated spot in movie theaters.
Last year, ads in United States movie theaters grew 23 percent to $438 million, according to the Cinema Advertising Council.
Consumer opposition to the screening of movie ads has led government officials in Connecticut, Illinois and New York City to introduce bills that would require theater owners to post, in all advertising, actual starting times for trailers and commercials, as well as for films. No bill has been passed yet.
Enacting legislation to force theater owners to provide actual starting times for movies is going just a tad overboard. Surely there are issues of more pressing import to contend with. How about we deal with, say, poverty, health care and the environment first?
That having been said, I share the average moviegoer’s annoyance at being forcefed commercials – especially after having already shelled out $8.50 to see an overhyped bore like “Star Wars” or “Batman Begins.”
Whenever the ads play, the crowd invariably has the same reaction: deathly silence, even though most the commercials are ostensibly going for laughs. I can remember hearing a smattering of snickers during a Coke spot, but that’s about it. Even some commercials that have won awards and garnered postive reaction in the trade press seem to bomb with the audience. I sit there and cringe, even though I had nothing to do with the commercials. It’s enough to make me embarassed to be in advertising – well, that and the sight of Donny Deutsch wearing Speedos.
I can’t help but wonder what agencies and clients are thinking. Why pay for commercials that meet with such hostility and resistance?
Because it’s one step closer to Hollywood, baby!