Commercials in movie theaters—hate ‘em, but ban ‘em?
I read today on the Chicagoist that a small movement seems to be afoot in Illinois to ban commercials in movie theaters shown before films, or at least to fight them in the courts. A state representative is trying to legislate against the practice, while a couple of citizens have filed class-action lawsuits.
Personally, I’m of the mind that the legislature should probably keep its fingers out of this; even when business practices annoy the hell out of me, it’s better that senators and representatives leave the business to the businesspeople. While I also don’t like class-action suits, it seems to be the better strategy here. Of course, if people truly hate these commercials as much as I do, the best solution would be for a theater chain to set a policy not to show them and then advertise that fact. They would capitalize on the policy as a competitive advantage.
The Chicagoist doesn’t speculate about the root cause of commercials before feature films. I think the source of this annoyance is probably a little more complex than “movie theaters want to make more money.” Nay, I’m sure the movie studios and distributors are charging more and more exorbitant rates for feature films—witness the death of the drive-in theater, the dollar theater, and the discount theater—and chains are looking to make a buck elsewhere. They’re concentrating on commercials and concessions.
So perhaps the real question is: Why have movies gotten so expensive? Or put more straightforwardly, why are actors being paid $20 million per film? I don’t know a single one who deserves it.
March 2nd, 2005 at 3:03 pm
I like sitting through commercials in the theatre. Really.
A) It’s interesting to see how they translate over onto the big screen.
B) It’s only two minutes of your time. If that two minutes will help the movie industry to make some more money, go ahead. You already set aside a block of time to see a movie. What’s an extra two minutes? Now if it starts extending into twenty-minute blocks of commericials, that could be a problem.
C) It’s always funny to watch commericals in public. In 5th grade the teacher showed us an educational tv show, but he didn’t edit out the commericials. It was quite funny to be in that social situation in school watching commericials. Maybe that’s just the novelty of it (which might be related to point A above).
But watching commericials like many things in life. You can sit around and complain about it, or you can try to see the positive aspects of it.
March 2nd, 2005 at 7:31 pm
EXCUSE ME mr.spud…but you CLEARLY do not understand the method, humor, or quality of tom’s rants and raves! “…But watching commericials like many things in life. You can sit around and complain about it, or you can try to see the positive aspects of it.” This is what tom is best at, so excuse me but back off my man white chocolate. a big angry bear
March 4th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
“But watching commericials like many things in life. You can sit around and complain about it, or you can try to see the positive aspects of it.”
What a fine consumer you are, a marketer’s wet dream. So, the brain switches off and plug it into the matrix and let the wedge of marketing get driven deeper into the brain.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a marketer! But at least give me a fight!!!!
March 6th, 2005 at 7:35 am
My main problem with movie prices is the across-the-board pricing practice. Movie-goers are charged the same amount for a sold-out blockbuster as they are for some second rate flick with 120 empty theatre seats. Isn’t this a fundemental violation of market economics? Why isn’t the price set like a share of stock? If no one’s buying the gate fee should plummet. Sure it’s fair to pay a high price for, say, Apollo 13, a great movie. But the same price for Blue Lagoon? Please.