Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Why are commercials so damned boring?

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-09-2005, 11:19 PM:

The latest Coke commercial that we're running is some sort of short story about a couple of college dorks on a road trip across America. Fascinating stuff. But if that's not enough, it's a sequel to a previous Coke commercial about the same bunch on the same road trip. Before that, we had an ad about a bunch of people who gathered together on a roof top in the city to sing about Coke. Someone point me to the nearest Coke machine! I can't wait to spend all of my money on Coke products!

About the best Coke commercial ever was the one that featured the "Mafia Movie Madness" student film. ("You got ID, Grandma? How do I know that ain't a wig?") Of course that ad got all the "Italian Rights" groups in an uproad for stereo-typing Italians as mobsters even though everyone I know of Italian heritage laughed their asses off when they watched it.

I'm not trying to pick on Coke for any particular reason, you can insert just about any corporate entity. Occasionally we have good entertaining commercials. Geico, for example, gets lucky sometimes. I think the Geico commercial with that exercise guy is funny as hell. Turner Classic Movies had some good ones too: "Dirty Dozen On Ice" and "Rocky" were both great. But for the most part, where's the creativity? Where is the comedy? Where are the "Mafia Movie Madness" ideas? Where are the "Budweiser Frogs", the Clara "Where's The Beef" Pellers, the "California Rasins" (remember them??), etc? Why do we all have to wait for one day out of the year (Super Bowl Sunday) for good entertaining funny commercials? Maybe if commercials (in particular, the ones that play in movie theaters) were better (read funnier) and not so damn repetitious and boring, or in the case of the latest batch of Coke commercials, stupid and pointless, people wouldn't mind them as much.

Thoughts?

Posted by Amanda Jones (Member # 3326) on 10-10-2005, 02:35 AM:

I loved the Mafia Coke commerical. Very funny.

The roof top Coke was cool because it was an updated version of a similar commerical from the 70s with people of various backgrounds getting together to sing and have a coke.

Does AMC still run movieticket.com ads with those 3 college frat guys? I remember one where they are hovered around a computer and one guy goes "there's no R in tickets"

Posted by Shane Cooper (Member # 2510) on 10-10-2005, 03:52 AM:

I have to agree that the Coke commercials are lame. I actually had a discussion with my Coke rep. about how iritating they were. We both agreed that Pepsi was much more creative with their ads.

I don't know about anyone else, but the whenever I see the Burger King commercials featuring the King they crack me up.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-10-2005, 08:54 AM:

quote: Amanda Jones
The roof top Coke was cool

In my opinion, the cool thing to do would have been to find a creative way to poke fun at the 70s commercial. Not try to modernize it as a crappy music video shot with the ubiquitous seizure-cam. That just tells me they have no new ideas.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-10-2005, 11:27 AM:

We don't run commercials but a neighboring theatre circuited a print to us a few weeks ago and they forgot to strip their commercials from reel 1, so I ran them for myself just to see what they were like. I can understand why the public gets bored/mad about them. Talk about a waste of 2 minutes. I don't even remember what they were now, that's how wonderful of an impression they left on me.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 10-10-2005, 03:51 PM:

And the fact those were still on the print shows that the revenue from them does NOT go towards paying competent people! [Wink]

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-10-2005, 04:19 PM:

Ads that are "just unappealing" on the small screen are "beyond obnoxious" on the large sceen. That is the reason TV shows are next to impossible to translate to the large screen unless some new element can be discovered. Louis

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-10-2005, 04:33 PM:

quote:
And the fact those were still on the print shows that the revenue from them does NOT go towards paying competent people!

Well, accidents DO happen. We've been getting prints from them for 15 years and this was the first time it happpened.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 10-10-2005, 04:49 PM:

My personal favorite Coke ads have to be Football Town USA for no real reason other than it's just kind of cool.
And of course, Movie Theater Hero. That was cool.

Runners up in the rolling stock category include the Tiger Woods/Caddy Shack spoof and of course the original trailer for Axe. The tribal women one. I laughed at that one pretty good.

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 10-10-2005, 04:55 PM:

Greed = Stupidity

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 10-10-2005, 08:24 PM:

American TV commercials have come to phase out the punchline from commercials recently. And slowly they've started to remove the whole entertaining aspect of sitting captive to a corporation for thirty seconds.

Instead of bitching about my most hated commercials (which are all probably just restricted to the bowels of Minneapolis/St. Paul TV production's rash of annoying sing-along songs), I believe the Sierra Mist Commercials are very premium [thumbsup]

Posted by Brian Hogan (Member # 940) on 10-11-2005, 07:41 PM:

i remember the very first movietickets.com ad. with the family on their little mission and the kid gets left behind. mom is yelling LEAVE HIM! and, sure enough, on the follow up ad the kid isnt there anymore. thats some hardcore movie ticket reconnaissance for ya.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-11-2005, 09:42 PM:

I forgot about that one! You're right, that was great.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 10-12-2005, 11:52 AM:

I don't think Coke ads are that bad. If you were in business over 100 years you might try something different, too. It's better than that horrible Duracell family a few years back, or Terry Bradshaw doing spots for Supercuts. Now if all ads could be as good as the Miller High Life ones...

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 10-13-2005, 07:50 AM:

I was so glad when the 'rooftop' Coke commercials ended in our theatres. I cant stand rap, and I dont like what they did to that old tune either.

That 'documentary' commercial is getting old too. Why do they have to cut and edit everything so fast? You cant even get a chance to get a good look at the image on the screen before it jumps to something else.

BTW: The rooftop commercial is still playing in the lobby. Ugh.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-13-2005, 09:27 AM:

Bruce, when I started getting headaches from watching that stupid documentary thing over and over again (it was the last spot to show before the film start), I decided to count the individual cuts in that ad. Grand total: SEVENTY... in a SIXTY SECOND ad.

No wonder I kept getting a headache. [puke]

So then I decided I would just LISTEN to it. Of course that meant that I had to keep hearing that brilliant profundity "Places so small, the only way to be noticed is to be larger than life" or something like that. [Confused]

Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 10-17-2005, 07:39 AM:

Regarding the topic of commericals in Movie theatres, I really wish the big theatre chains whould put two starting times in their listings, one when all the commericals/trailers start and one when the movie starts.

I'm just glad I work at a second run that has no commericals!! Also projectionists at those chains, turn the damn comemericals and trailers down!!! their to fringin LOUD!!!

Posted by Amanda Jones (Member # 3326) on 10-17-2005, 04:18 PM:

New coke trailer being delivered to theaters this week to be on screen by Friday. "Line Starts Here", I hope its better then the current "Road Trip" one.

Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 10-18-2005, 09:45 AM:

Me too. The latest Coke rolling stock has sucked.

I personally like the new Honda Civic Si rolling stock... Catchy tune and interesting visuals. New and different, imo.

The US Cellular "Movies are no longer silent..." rolling stock was mildly amusing, but different. I like it when companies come up with rolling stock that's unique to theatres.

My all-time most hated rolling stock is the "Bod Man Fragrance Spray" ad. All they did was pull both of their 15-second TV spots and splice them together, back to back. Craptacular.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 11-02-2005, 04:05 PM:

The worst trend going now is the Regal "20". The audio is loud and harsh and irritating, and it's playing when people get to the theatre a little early and tend to just want to sit and talk to their friends before the movie starts.

The Regal "20" feels like a bad Entertinment TV show with a bunch of commercials.

I admit it is one reason my moviegoing has slowed down so much. In 1998, I went to 80 movies that year. This year, I've seen about a dozen in theatres, if that many. There's very little appeal left. Commercials and poor showmanship are ruining the industry. I went to the theatre more than anyone else I know, and if I've been turned off, think of how many others are.

Posted by Robert Harrison (Member # 3202) on 11-02-2005, 06:57 PM:

We run commercials that are essentially telling people to stay home and watch TV. Most of our ads are for either Turner Classic Movies or films coming out on DVD.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-02-2005, 10:14 PM:

Yeah, kinda funny when you think about it, ain't it. We just had posters up advertising a TV show. "MAKE SURE YOU PUT IT IN A VERY PROMINENT LOCATION" said the documentation that came with the poster. Sure, let me just take down this King Kong poster, and I'll stick it there. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-03-2005, 09:50 AM:

The title of this post suggests that the author finds television commercials on the big screen entertaining!? Any kind of ad (IMO) on the screen is unwelcome and intrusive. If the chains and operators wern't so sleazy they would realize this and omit with this bullcrap.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-03-2005, 12:02 PM:

quote: Paul Gordon
Regarding the topic of commericals in Movie theatres, I really wish the big theatre chains whould put two starting times in their listings, one when all the commericals/trailers start and one when the movie starts.

While that sounds like a great idea on paper, the reality of it is much more complicated. You have the fact that it will take more space in advertising listings, and therefore will cost more money. You also have to deal with the general public that regardless of how well you point out in your advertising listings or on your movie listings board, they will take it to mean that there are two different showings. More confusion is not what the public needs.

My thought would be that better route would be to just advertise the program start times as always, and then when at the theater, you can post the amount of time that the pre show takes up. Often you might not know the exact pre show time until after the deadline for print ads are due.

quote: Mike Croaro
The title of this post suggests that the author finds television commercials on the big screen entertaining!? Any kind of ad (IMO) on the screen is unwelcome and intrusive. If the chains and operators wern't so sleazy they would realize this and omit with this bullcrap.

To say that any kind of on screen advertising is unwelcom and intrusive is to not truly understand the nature and history of advertising.

Movie trailers are an advertisement, and people actually look forward to them. They are often entertaining, and tell them of movies to come. Movie trailers are not new or unique. They have been used since the black and white days.

Product placements have also been part of the movie landscape for just as long. A certain brand of cigarettes, alcohol, soft dring, place to eat, airline, it's all the same. A price gets you placement. It may even get you a rewrite in the script to accomodate your product.

I will agree that tv spots reformatted for the big screen are a joke. If there is some advertising spots that are created for the big screen, and are entertaining, then I have no problem with it. The theater owner gets the take instead of the producers of the film you are showing. With the amount of your box office that they get, it is a nice change.

Slide advertising before the show has never been a problem. It does not interfere with the show itself, and people quite often get engaged in the trivia slides.

And then the real argument here is that there are no commercials interrupting movie during the movie, it is all pre show. As long as the preshow does not exceed a reasonable amount of time, then it gives people an opportunity to arrive late and not miss the movie.

And as for the sleazyness of chain operators, this implies that they are not entitled to make a profit? I agree that they should be more concerned with making things right instead of righting the pocketbook, but there has to be balance. Most operaters of chains listen to investors and banks, not a small percentage of theater goers or a small amount of techs on what they are doing wrong. We all collect a check for whatever we do, and I am sure there is someone somewhere that thinks we are sleazy for what we do for money, whatever that is.

Ciao

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-03-2005, 01:01 PM:

Dave Williams wrote:

To say that any kind of on screen advertising is unwelcom and intrusive is to not truly understand the nature and history of advertising.

Movie trailers are an advertisement, and people actually look forward to them. They are often entertaining, and tell them of movies to come. Movie trailers are not new or unique. They have been used since the black and white days.

Product placements have also been part of the movie landscape for just as long. A certain brand of cigarettes, alcohol, soft dring, place to eat, airline, it's all the same. A price gets you placement. It may even get you a rewrite in the script to accomodate your product.

Hi Dave; Others:

Sorry if my post was unclear. It was intended ONLY for television commericals. I have no problem with movie previews and I am tolerable of snack bar ads as they have been present for decades.

Mike

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 11-03-2005, 01:17 PM:

In the good old days of which you speak ... there was no stadium seating ... there was no digital sound ... customers today want all the convenience of these modern (expensive) megaplexes ... but do not understand that some thinking outside of the box and new revenue forms (i.e. advertising) may result. Go to a sporting event ... they have "on screen advertising" on the video boards during breaks ... and you're paying much more for that hockey or baseball game than going to the theatre.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-03-2005, 02:44 PM:

In the good old days, theatres also had 70mm prints (or sometimes 35mm mag), full-time operators, one screen per theatre, curtains, and the desire to put on the best possible show. Screw stadium seating (I don't like most implementations of it, anyway), I want showmanship, not overly loud TV ads.

Posted by Bernie Anderson Jr (Member # 410) on 11-05-2005, 01:33 PM:

Because they're made by marketing people. It's the same problems with Trailers. They're cut almost exactly the same.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-05-2005, 08:46 PM:

How is it that no one else has mentioned the fact that any commercials, be them on TV or in theatres, are all getting VERY bland and boring?

Not only are the commercials a PITA to some 75% or better of the moviegoing public, the films they are paying to see are not that great either! Add insult to injury and attendance suffers. I can think of three, maybe four movies I've seen since leaving the theatre in March. The best one to date was Wedding Crashers..

Movies, and commercials alike, are all being replayed, rewritten, and reworked to the point that they ALL seem to be, well, just BLAH. I'd rather watch Discovery or The Histroy Channel at home than go sit in the theatre and deal with the jackasses that attend the shows... [Frown]

Sad really.