TV commercials in movie theaters???

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Went to the movie theater for the first time in quite awhile tonight, and was appalled. Before the movie, I had to sit through more commercials for TV shows than promos for upcoming movies. Way more. What are they trying to do? Convince me that staying home and watching TV is a better idea than coming out to the MOVIES???? I don't understand the logic. (I also don't understand $4.75 for a SMALL soda either.)

Another thing I don't understand is radio stations that run commercials for TV shows. Seems counterproductive to me.
 
that's why i started showing up 10 mins after the advertised start time of a movie. and i drive to the theater with my radio off, just to clear my head, or to help be forget that i'm about to spend $9.50 on a 1 ounce of package of sugar and a 16ounce cup of ice with a bit of soda in it.

and tv/movie trailers on the radio is pathetic...must be from the old days when there was no tv...it's just one more outdated marketing option that radio needs, to try to stay relevant.
 
So should TV commercials only advertise TV shows? I mean, you can't watch TV while you're food shopping but you can listen to a radio. Or maybe only products that can be ordered while you're still glued in front of the boob tube, err LCD screen.
 
no, TV commercials shouldnt just advertise TV shows....that's not the point of the original post. he was talking about "tv type" commercials before a movie in the theater. and you may not be abe to watch tv WHILE grocery shopping, but my grocery store now has TVs at the checkout. and now gas stations have TVs at the pumps....what's next...restroom stalls?

the original post was more about the reach of advertising, and not about the internet.
 
Yeah TV commercials annoy the hell out of me at the cinema. Takes away from the cinema atmosphere.
 
advertising in general is a desperate endeavor....wanna watch a cat do a backflip online?...gotta watch a Buick commercial first....
 
Not to mention how you have to click off 45 ads/overlays to watch a youtube video now.
 
and you have to love the advertising on cable tv....Beer ad/car ad, precription drug ad/one more beer ad/then car ad...all during an episode of "Celebrity Rehab". America the beautiful. we love theme advertising, don't we.
 
Chris Light said:
no, TV commercials shouldnt just advertise TV shows....that's not the point of the original post. he was talking about "tv type" commercials before a movie in the theater. and you may not be abe to watch tv WHILE grocery shopping, but my grocery store now has TVs at the checkout. and now gas stations have TVs at the pumps....what's next...restroom stalls?

the original post was more about the reach of advertising, and not about the internet.
Click to expand...

The OP addressed advertising that promotes activities that are counteractive to the medium in which they are being displayed. The first example was TV shows prior to a movie. The second example was TV shows on the radio. I took it a step further by asking if the endorsement of every activity that is counteractive to the medium in which it is being displayed should be avoided—and used the medium of television in my question.

I never said anything about the Internet. 'Scuze me while I go fry an egg...
 
This is not new, although from what I have seen it's a more recent phenomenon in US theaters, than in European ones.

Some people find it so objectionable that they have taken to printing out 'this seat reserved: I choose not to sit through advertising' signs that they drop on their chosen seat before the ads start, leave, then return when it's time for the actual trailers or feature presentation.

Yeah, I find it objectionable, too. There's a transaction involved in broadcast tv ads: the viewer gets the programming content free of charge, and endures the advertising as the in-kind price that covers the broadcaster's expenses. Your theater admission ticket - the average price of which has gone nowhere but up - is supposed to be your payment to access the content offered by the theater operator; subjecting you to ads before the feature is simply the theater op squeezing some extra shekels out of the operation by effectively double-billing: you pay for access to the theater, and the advertisers pay for access to you, while you are there.

A few years ago we went to a show at the Arclight on Sunset, where their advertised policy is 'no ads in the theaters -' and were subjected to a promo for the Academy Awards broadcast, on whatever network was broadcasting it that year. So afterwards I went to the manager and demanded our money back: when I buy a ticket at a theater that promises 'no ads,' I expect no ads. Although the manager tried to pass it off as a 'public service announcement' (nice try).

Aside from organized boycotts of theaters that run ads, I don't know how to address it. It's purely a money issue, so only hitting them in the money-spot is going to discourage the practice.

As far as the $4.75 small soda goes - if you checked out the medium, I bet that it was about $5.00, and the large was probably not more than about $5.25 or $5.50. That's been the model for at least twenty years. You're not really paying for the size of the soda; you're paying for any contact with the concessions stand, at all. That's where the theater operator makes the *real* money.

Radio stations running ads for tv shows is just good business. Networks have deep advertising pockets and radio and television are not necessarily in direct competition for audience members.
 
Sad Max said:
This is not new, although from what I have seen it's a more recent phenomenon in US theaters, than in European ones.

Some people find it so objectionable that they have taken to printing out 'this seat reserved: I choose not to sit through advertising' signs that they drop on their chosen seat before the ads start, leave, then return when it's time for the actual trailers or feature presentation.

Yeah, I find it objectionable, too. There's a transaction involved in broadcast tv ads: the viewer gets the programming content free of charge, and endures the advertising as the in-kind price that covers the broadcaster's expenses. Your theater admission ticket - the average price of which has gone nowhere but up - is supposed to be your payment to access the content offered by the theater operator; subjecting you to ads before the feature is simply the theater op squeezing some extra shekels out of the operation by effectively double-billing: you pay for access to the theater, and the advertisers pay for access to you, while you are there.

A few years ago we went to a show at the Arclight on Sunset, where their advertised policy is 'no ads in the theaters -' and were subjected to a promo for the Academy Awards broadcast, on whatever network was broadcasting it that year. So afterwards I went to the manager and demanded our money back: when I buy a ticket at a theater that promises 'no ads,' I expect no ads. Although the manager tried to pass it off as a 'public service announcement' (nice try).

Aside from organized boycotts of theaters that run ads, I don't know how to address it. It's purely a money issue, so only hitting them in the money-spot is going to discourage the practice.

As far as the $4.75 small soda goes - if you checked out the medium, I bet that it was about $5.00, and the large was probably about than $5.25. That's been the model for at least twenty years. You're not really paying for the size of the soda; you're paying for any contact with the concessions stand, at all.
Click to expand...

That's what I do. I rarely ever go to a movie theater anymore because of the general treatment of the customer by the business. Everything from the rape-charges for snacks to the ads, to the surly ****-ups they hire to work the counters, it's all just such an insulting and demeaning experience, I generally refuse to support their business.

Granted it's better somewhere like the Zigfeld. But we have nothing approaching the great experience I had at the Alamo Drafthouse. Not only could I have a beer at 10 in the morning, but a very cute girl brought it to me at my seat!!!!! It's the first really civilized movie-going experience I've had in ages.
 
I have found that over the last several years we've largely gone off the theater experience, at least, as ticket-buying customers at commercial theaters. Studio and guild screenings are the way to go, if one can swing it. I think we saw two, maybe three films tops, in commercial theaters last year...
 
True. But then it's up to you to provide a suitably large screen, to see it on...the 'theater experience' is what keeps people coming back, despite the ads, despite the ticket fees, despite the insanely over-priced concessions, etc...
 
True that. I do still wish I'd seen "Jurassic Park" or a movie screen and maybe Transformers, but that's about it.

-Nate
 
Jurassic Park is definitely a big-screen movie. Transformers...well, to me that seems like the difference between being merely irritated by sterile confusingly-cut omniviolence on a smaller screen, or being overwhelmed by it on a larger one. YMMV.

There are a lot of movies that are qualitatively different in a large-screen presentation, of course. Everybody could easily name at least a dozen.
 
We have a second run theater here in town that shows no commercials or ads plus has REAL butter for their popcorn.
More often than not now I wait till the movie hits that theater then go see it then.

The manager even has drawings for free pop and popcorn while you're waiting for the movie to start.

He does a good business because people are tired of seeing commercials at the theater and paying large prices to do so.

This second run theater only charges $4.50 a show and is doing a really good business.
 
With regard to the 'theater experience' -- it's hard to enjoy a quite moment in the movie you're watching when the walls are rumbling from the huge explosions in the movie showing in the theater next door.
 
My rule is, if it's not worth seeing at the Cinerama here in Seattle, it's not worth going. Obvious exceptions... there is a small theater chain here that has an open bar and will deliver drinks to your seat (whiskey and Cokes were the only way I was able to make it through Borat), or if going with a group of friends. But unless I'm going to have a significantly better experience from seeing it on a ridiculously huge screen with a killer sound system, then I can just wait for DVD. Or better yet I have Zune and Netflix for Xbox Live with a 50" DLP and decent surround sound. And for slightly more than the cost of a trip to the theater, I can just buy the Blu-Ray and get a pizza.
 
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