As much as I am ashamed to admit it, I am one of the millions who spent my hard earned money on New Moon this weekend. As this is not the place for movie reviews, I'll skip my rant for now.
While waiting for the movie to begin, as usual there were previews. The interesting thing about these previews is they were all for movies produced or made by Summit only. I'm sure that all movies companies do this, but because the bigger companies own several production houses, it's a little harder to tell if only one company's movies are being advertised. Here it was obvious.
I knew from past experience that all movies have tie-ins to stores and food places, but this just seemed more obvious. For instance, Burger King has Team Jacob and Team Edward commercials that suggest the conflict between the two sides can be solved over a Whopper meal. I can't seem to escape the commercials they are everywhere, even during the Viking's game today. Although I do find the range of people they show having the debate funny, the construction workers with their alligence written on their vests are my favorite. They even played the Burger King commercial during had commercials in the movie theater during the previews.
There was also an unintentional (maybe not) that several movie and reality stars were photographed with the water bottles with either Edward or Jacob on them, that are the same as the ones shown in the TV ad. Now, if I were a tween, I would be wondering where I could get my Edward or Jacob water bottle. Movie stars are just "like us" when they purchase products too. I bet the company who makes those were jumping for joy when Kim Kardashian's picture showed up in People with the water bottle and then Ashley Tisdale showed up with opposite one. It did make me wonder if it was somehow planned.
While on the subject of People magazine, they had a whole section on their webpage for the countdown to the movie with quizzes and pictures of the stars at all the premiers (I glanced purely for research).
To see what else was offered for sale that was New Moon related, I checked the Toys-R-Us website. There was an astonishing list of products from the movie aside from the t-shirts: jewelry, dolls (action figures), sheets, and if you spent $75.00 at some stores you can get a gift card toward your next purchase.
So, what was learned from my New Moon experience? That I am far more aware of movie marketing and product tie-ins than I used to be. I am not sure I wanted to be aware of it, but it does make me more aware. Oh goody.
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I really enjoyed reading this. I worked in a college bookstore over the summer and had watched the _New Moon_ preview every half an hour for three months. At first, I was excited, but by the end of the summer, I was so sick of _Twilight_ stuff. I feel like there is a certain point of advertising overload, and _New Moon_ hit it, as did _Disney's A Christmas Carol_. I still saw the movie and liked it. I think that although many people think _Twilight_ is silly, it is important as a mass comm student and as a media consumer to be a part of that fan culture because it is so big. It's all about being informed, as you obviously are.
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