Acting Against Pre-Movie Ads
Last night I went to see a film in Cineworld, Parnell St. Dublin. I paid €9.20 for the ticket and, prior to trailers starting, a reel of at least 10 (possibly 15) advertisements were force-fed to me on the large screen in the darkened room.
This may not annoy you, and if that is the case this suggestion isn't for you, but it annoys me incredibly. I'm not very knowledgeable on the economics of multiplex management, but I sincerely doubt that the revenue from the screening of ads is necessary to render the sector profitable. If it is then, given the ticket pricing and the cost of discretionary purchases under the same roof, allied to record cinema attendance figures, serious doubts must be raised about financial control in the industry.
Essentially my problem is with the fact that I pay handsomely to go to the cinema, and despite this I am then, when essentially part of a captive audience, shown a lengthy stream of stupid and annoying commercials for anything from dogfood to spaghetti sauce.
To those that say it's possible to avoid the ads by entering the screen later than the advertised start time, yes it probably is, but there are number of factors which make this an undesirable strategy to me: the semi or complete darkness once they start showing ads/trailers; having to squeeze past those that entered at the right time if it's assigned seating, or having to search for seats if it's unassigned; the fact that I might miss trailers which I personally enjoy watching; etc.
I have now decided to pick a product that is advertised before the next movie I see and boycott it, purely due to the fact that it is shown in that environment.
I might be misdirecting my ire as essentially it's not the fault of the brands, or even the advertising agency, though neither are entirely blameless, but of the cinema chain, or individual establishment. However it's easier for me than boycotting cinemas in general, involves little effort and in some small way will be effective, though obviously not on a scale noticeable to the brand in question, given the relative insignificance of my purchase power.
Obviously if others adopted a similar strategy, it might over time become noticeable on a dogfood sales graph in the office of the dogfood company's marketing executive and, if he could somehow know where it stemmed from he might decide to instruct his retained advertising agency to limit the next campaign to non-cinema media. Then, to continue theoretical chain of events to its far-fetched conclusion, soon there'll be no advertisers left to inhabit that screen space after the lights out and before the trailers.
Accordingly, I'm inviting those that the practice annoys as much as me to do the same; pick one product, even the easiest product that you don't even buy now, and when the opportunity for you to do so arises some time in the future remember the inane advertising that tried to convince you to buy it, and neglect to do so.
If you barely notice the ads, or think it's fair enough that their shown, then cool, ignore the above. Likewise if you think it's about as effective a strategy as trying to soak up the sea with some Bounty Kitchen Roll, despite all the little elephants one sheet.
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