Analog Thoughts on a Digital Age

Saturday, September 17, 2005

My Rant For The Week: Commercials Before The Movie

I didn't pay P130 for this..

My rant for the week is probably one that I share with thousands of other moviegoers not only here at home but abroad as well. For this is a global pheonomenon. A Movement. A campaign, propagated by capitalist pigs. Money grubbing corporate hacks that find pleasure in the suffering of the downtrodden masses. A signal of the degredation of our times, the degeneration of the very fiber of our society. What Am I talking about? I'm talking about Commercials before the film begins!

Times have changed since the movies became a part of every civilized society's favorite recreational activity. It haslong since, gone a long way. Fore some, it is a relaxing break from the everyday hustle and bustle. For others, it is an escape from reality. For a few, even an obsession, but all of us go to the same theater and share the same experience... but before that, we need to know how Ayala Land has grown since it first started. We need to know how yummy Max Chicken is so that we can go eat there after the movie. We need to get termite insecticides because we may have subterrenian termites eating our house RIGHT NOW!! I make it a point that I come in five minutes early to be on time for the opening credits. But instead I'm bombarded with these pointless ads about termite killers and expensive corporate property

I dont have anything against previews. I love previews. Trailers for upcoming movies are kind of an extra perk for the money you pay for the movie. But you dont pay for the commercials, do you? What's up with that? Last time I checked, the person who paid for the movie was ME! They covering for theater expenses, Is my P130 not enough for paying for the aircon and the projector and the comfy seats. I don't even get a free tub of popcorn for the P130!

I can get the same movie in Quiapo for P60 (without cuts, even) and they expect me to change my attitude towards piracy? And when I do give in to their corporate ploy with emotional blackmail, the shove all these mis-targeted ads into my eyeballs! (Really now, do people looking for property or a condo or insecticides really go to the theaters for purchasing advice? )

As I said earlier, this is a global plague. Stephen King wrote for Entertainment Weekly a list of his Pet Peeves for 2004, the highest ranking pet peeve was..take a wild guess:


"Ads before theatrical movies. I pay $10 to see The Forgotten, and even before I get a preview, I have to sit through an ad for the Xbox videogame system - how insanely capitalistic is that? I think that the trend toward putting ads before films has grown slowly in America (it's common in Europe) because moviegoers see the local theater as a last refuge from the TV hucksters, and the chain owners have sensed that. But this is America, amigo, and if there's a buck to be made, someone out there is gonna try to make it.

I wish every moviegoer in America would stand up in the dark and shout, "TURN THAT SH*T OFF! TURN IT OFF! THAT ISN'T WHAT I PAID FOR! TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW!"


Other rants from my online resources abound as well, take John Campea 's rant from TheMovieBlog:

"This stroke of idiocy is just too much. Yeah, let's fix the problem of people not coming to the theatres by driving more of them away... that should fix everything. How stupid can some people be?!?! I mean, really?

You fix the problem by investing in it... not trying to rape it more. LOWER the prices... REDUCE the amount of ad times. Yes, it will hurt financially a bit now... but in the long run it will bring some of the people BACK to the movies instead of driving them out. Get a clue and wise up you fricken commandos of the moron brigade."


Are we (the frequent moviegoers of the world) being conditioned unconsciously to buy all this stuff in purpose ('ya think?) Are we gonna have to accept the fact that we can be assured that that hideous Inquirer commercial will have to destroy the mood before you get to see March of The Penguins (seriously, I close my eyes or look away from the screen whenever this ad comes up)? How many times do we have to be told how cool the Nokia 8800 is? Am I alone in this. I sure hope not!

Anyways, on to my review...

9 Comments:

Blogger Sedricke said...

what a stupid comment up there.

anyway, honestly, i don't even care about the ads anymore. or when i do, i really get a good laugh out of em. the only time they irritate me is when there are too much of them that i am already itching to see some trailers.

tsk, i haven't seen cinderella yet.

7:22 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

uuuhhhh dude...

commercials actually help pay for the production of the movie

i dunno.. just a heads up and yeah it does bug me but as long as it helps in getting that goddamn movie out then no prob for me

6:32 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i share your sentiments dude:

those sentricon and inquirer ads make me want to burn the whole theater down. really...

1:04 AM

 
Blogger the rocketboy said...

Pay no attention to these sploggers. I'm sure that if we ignore them, they will go away.

Sedricke: Too much is an understatement. First of all MOST of the ads are Ayala or SM owned companies who dont pay for the slots anyway. Its all internal. The unsuspecting consumer becomes entangled in their web of corporate conspiracy- to brainwash the masses into buying more from their malls (ok amy have had a little more sugar than usual)

Chip: Wassup man? Land of the Dead is showing this week. Whad you say? They help pay for the movie? I thought that was our job? How expensive are these movies anyway?

Pimpstar: The sentricon ad is so old and scratchy and nobody really 'watches' it. That's a sad story right there. The inquirer ad is just spine chilling I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

5:41 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

try greenbelt3. last 3 movies I saw there didn't have ads. it is a bit pricier by 20 pesos though. around 150 I think. maybe the 20 pesos took care of the ads. on the bright side, you'd still have time to go to the washroom or buy pop corn and soda. or assess if your "seatmates" are the noisy types, so that you can move if they are, while there are still vacant seats.

4:46 PM

 
Blogger the rocketboy said...

Franch: I think I will. Plus they do advanced screenings there too. Thanks

5:55 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chip: Wassup man? Land of the Dead is showing this week. Whad you say? They help pay for the movie? I thought that was our job? How expensive are these movies anyway?

LAND OF THE DEAD IS A BLOODY SMORGASBOARD OF A GODDAMN MOVIE!!!!

I Love it!!! Thanks for telling me it was coming out!!!

WooHoo!!!

oh and about the ads thing...I learned that when I was still doing Events Coordination

11:29 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh and those movies... really expensive...

talent fees of bloated, talentless, vain mega freak "superstars"

talent fees for the really talented people

sets, film, actual use of cameras, lights recording materials

marketing

the list goes on like the horde of zombies in The Land of the Dead

Terrific movie btw

11:32 PM

 
Blogger the rocketboy said...

Chip: Thanks. I hope things pick up and they realize they're driving people away from the theaters and into Quiapo.

5:55 AM

 

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