You're Paid to Make Me Care

I remember the saying, "He was such an incredible salesman that he could sell an icebox to an Eskimo."

Now, maybe this was just a saying. But I do have to believe that this was an ideal that people aspired to live up to.

So, why do we see multi-million dollar movies with advertisements that make the film look like a flaming pile of terd?

You know there were execs that asked the question, "Why do we care... about this movie, this character, the plot... whatever..." But why do the majority of advertising campaigns just limply throw up the garbage they have been presented with.

BLARG! There it is.

Make me care!

In a day and age when there are amateurs that can recut incredible trailers to appear to be from any genre they feel like, regardless of content (TITANIC as a thriller, THE RING as a drama, THE SHINING as a romantic comedy), why are companies whose sole function is selling to an audience more concerned with the actual product?

It seems to me, that if more time was spent on figuring out how to sell the icebox, rather than determining if the icebox was what their customers wanted, if it was the right color, shape, fit perfectly into that measured hole near your other appliances.. and let the filmmakers do their job, you'd see a higher quality of product than is currently available.

I like a wide variety of genres and movies. I am an avid movie goer. I am predisposed to spend money on movies. Hell, I spend money to see movies I don't want to see because there is NO ALTERNATIVE!

In the past three years or so, there has only been a handful of movies that I wanted to see. And of these, it was mostly because I would have gone to see them, regardless of the advertising.

I want a reason to go to see a movie.

Make me care! You're paid enough to do it.

Tags: advertising, recut+trailers, trailers, movies