Movie theater adverts are out of control
I remember when I was younger back in the 80's and 90's that this wasn't really a problem like it is today. If you are a millennial you may be under the impression that it has always been this way but I can assure you that it was not. Advertisers can ruin any experience, and previously I feel as though this was limited to situations where you were receiving something for free and it had to be paid for somehow - however as a paying customer I am starting to get a bit annoyed.
I used to enjoy getting to movies on time because of the previews. However, I suppose we don't really need that anymore since anyone with an internet connection can quite easily find all the previews they want. In the 80's, 90's and even early 2000's when I went to cinemas I don't recall ever being subjected to an advertisement about anything other than upcoming films, these days 90 percent of it is adverts for items completely unrelated to movies.
breaking the rules in the cinema!
Our film was start time was 12:50PM, the actual film didn't begin until nearly 1:30pm. We were subjected to nearly 40 minutes of non-stop advertisements. The strange thing about some of these was that there were 4 Coca-Cola adverts in there and this is strange to me. The only thing they even sell in the movie theater is Coca-Cola products so why are you doing this?
We then got at least 3 Isuzu truck advertisements, a few Toyota adverts, and a couple of insurance adverts and maybe there was 4 previews. I was so frustrated by the time the film actually began that I have decided that for 1 month, I am going to refuse to buy any products that are made by Coke. This will be easy to accomplish because I dont' really drink soda and when I do, I prefer Pepsi-Max anyway.
We also had to stand for the song to honor the King, but I don't mind doing that because it is actually a lovely song and the admiration the people of Thailand have for their Royal Family is always something I find quite touching.
Bill Hicks was an American comedian who was far more popular in the U.K. than he ever was in the U.S.. In one of his stand-up specials he would go on a 10 minute rant about how advertisers are ruining the world and said something along the lines of "if you work in advertising.... FK you.... there is no joke here, just FK you, you ruin everything you get involved in... FK you Fk you F**k you."
I have to say that I agree with Mr. Hicks, who unfortunately is no longer with us. In the future I intend to arrive at all movies 20 minutes late because even though I should probably just let it go and look at Partiko for those 30-40 minutes, I am easily made upset by crap like this and I am definitely going to avoid all products that are advertised in there in the future. I wish there was an online group for this so we could name and shame all corporations that are destroying what little enjoyment remains in life.
Haha Coca Cola adverts make no sense in a cinema 😂 or car adverts either... like you, I like going early to see trailers of similar films! It used to be the only time you could catch the trailer and then be pumped about watching the film when it came out in a month or 2! Man, a lot really has changed in a very short amount of time
The time a movie is scheduled to start and the time it actually begins seem to be getting further apart. Take this story from a frustrated moviegoer who saw “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” in New Jersey over the weekend.
“The show time was 1:10 p.m., but the movie started sometime after 1:40,” he said. “There were lots of trailers mixed with advertisements for the theater and IMAX. Every time we thought it was over it, it just kept going.”
And he’s not the only one who’s complaining.
it's nuts. We paid to get in there and therefore i think the advertising is a bit of a dirty tactic. I would imagine it is at least somewhat determined by the theater because there is another person on this very thread saying that his USA theater only advertises other movies.
Any more I usually try to go as late as i can to avoid that. I'd usually arrive around the time the show is said to start - and by the time i got to the show (after paying for tickets and snacks) then i would only really watch a few minutes of trailers
I'm in my 40s - I remember there used to be like 5/10min of previews before a movie - but 40min LOL - that is kind of a movie in itself.
i had completely finished my nachos before the movie even started :P
That would be so irritating just seeing advertisements, nothing else! A person like me will move out of the theatre without even watching it.
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That’s weird, I have been to a few movies here in the USA in the past year and it seems like they only advertise for upcoming movies. What countries is it where they are advertising everything?
Thailand. I am happy to hear that they are not allowing / doing that in USA.
Depends on where you go in the US. Large chain theaters like your Regal and AMC will usually run trailers and maybe some partner company's ad but not much else.
However the local theaters will just have the equivalent of a slide show of ads until it's time to show the trailers and movie. Unlike the ad's that @gooddream was describing, these are only really just advertisements for local companies and sponsors. They're usually unobtrusive and i personally like seeing local businesses run as i prefer them whenever possible to large corporations.
Edit: for clarification, The local ads at the local theaters would run before the films start time, at the start time we'd see just trailers.
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To be totally honest, this is shocking to me. It looks like there is no law regarding advertising in cinema's or the only law is what they make for themselves.
One thing is for sure, you can't treat anyone like that!
This reminds me of life in Romania in the early 90s, right after communism ended. There were no laws, so everything was possible. This is how TV stations were airing one hour of publicity in the middle of a movie, sometimes the same advertisement for 10 minutes. I don't have to tell you how annoying that was. Then the whole thing got under control.
I haven't been to the cinema for ages but I'm sure they don't have so much advertising. They would lose all clients. It's just disrespectful.
I haven’t run into this problem myself but if a movie starts 40 minutes late because of ads I’d stop visiting that theatre. That’s almost worse than watching a movie on tv!
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That's funny that you remember every ad. and why not you had seen them for 40 minutes straight! that's frustrating. although here ads do make their way into cinemas but not for much long time span, actually depending on cinema hall.
I am also strictly not admiring how advertisements have made their way to steemit too. but it is simply done for the profits.
and not to forget, I loved the last tag. hilarious!
Do you at least get to reserve your seats ahead of time so you don't have to worry about coming in late and getting stuck in the front row? I've been in that position before and it was horrible on my neck! I remember when there used to be maybe two trailers tops before the beginning of the movie and then boom you were off. I can't imagine forty minutes. That is pretty excessive. My popcorn would be gone within about ten minutes!