Obnoxious Advertising

When I was growing up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, we had a movie theater called the Carolina. After buying some affordable popcorn, you would find a seat. The lights were dimmed but not too low, and the screen was covered with an attractive golden curtain. Music gently played, usually part of Jacques Ibert’s Escales or the theme from Samson and Delilah: music somewhat relaxing, to settle the brain and get you relaxed enough to enjoy whatever film was about to be shown.

When it was time for the movie to start, the curtains would open and the lights would go down the rest of the way. Usually there was a newsreel, a trailer or, at most, two for coming attractions, then a cartoon, usually from Warner Bros. or Disney. Then the feature began. If it was under two hours, it played straight through. If the film was over two hours, there was an intermission. You could go to the restroom or buy some more popcorn. The whole affair was a movie event, something you couldn’t get at home -- not even the cartoon, which usually was a brand-new one.

Last week I went to our local Regal Theater in Martinsburg, West Virginia. I got there 15 minutes early, and already on the screen was something called "First Look," which purported to give inside glimpses of new movies but was really just a cinematic clothesline on which to hang loud, brassy commercials -- many of the same ads I’d already seen that week at home on TV. This was followed by freestanding ads, including ones for the National Guard and the Marines. Then there was a request that we turn our cell phones off. After that, six or seven trailers -- not for other films then playing at the multiplex, which would at least have made some sense, but for upcoming features, some of which won’t be released until next year. From my experience at this theater, I know that they often show trailers for movies that never play on their screens, but end up in other movie houses and other towns.

Finally, the movie itself began, but by then I was so angry, and my nerves so jangled, that it took me the first 15 minutes to settle down; I couldn’t pay the film the rapt attention I would have liked. Had it been a three-hour movie, it would have played without intermission, which meant that people would be leaving their seats and returning at all times to go to the restroom, often momentarily blocking my view. Still, that doesn’t happen that often, because there are seldom more than 30 or 40 people in the audience. The small amount that theaters earn from onscreen advertising is being more than countered by audience alienation and people staying home.

But wait -- nowadays, almost every DVD begins with trailers as well. I’d have no complaint if these were listed as extras. In fact, I might enjoy seeing a trailer for an upcoming DVD of interest. But all too often the DVD player, after displaying the FBI and Interpol warnings, defaults to the trailers. Sometimes you can press Menu and skip them; sometimes you have to use chapter skip to run through them quickly. Occasionally, there seems to be nothing to do but endure them.

Both the theatrical and DVD ads just aren’t right. When you pay $8-$10 for a movie ticket, you shouldn’t have to watch commercials. In fact, they should deduct it from your entrance fee. Usually, you’re going to a theater to escape the real world, not take it along with you. And surely, when you pay $19.95 or more for a DVD, or less for a rental, you didn’t pay that money for ads. Perhaps DVD buyers, being ripe for the next chance to "just see the movie" via digital downloads, will cry foul, as theater patrons are doing by staying away. And what do you want to bet that someone is not planning, as I write this, to tag even downloads with commercials?

If we don’t withhold our money and/or make very loud noises about this, we’ll just keep seeing ads for M&Ms, Reebok, and Toyota everywhere we go. The only refuge will be in reading books. Think about it. You’re paying money to allow someone who wants to get more of your money to get "at" you. Maybe you’re a masochist and like this idea, but I would hope that most of us aren’t, and don’t. Tell your theater manager about your displeasure and write e-mails to the DVD companies, or it’s only going to get worse. Our homes should be our controllable castles, and the theater a place to see films. Advertising is for network TV and commercial radio. There’s already enough of it there.

 ...Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com

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