Movie Theater Advertisements: Infringing on Your Rights?

I love going to the movies.  Its a great escape for my wife and I.  You've seen the ads they are playing before the trailers.  Seems like Coke has the most of them; but there are others.

Jackie over at Church of the Customer basically says it is our right not to be advertised to because we paid for a movie ticket.  She's got some strong opinions on this and I love her for it!

However, I completely disagree.  I don't buy the argument that 'we paid to be entertained and there is 'no opt-out' of the advertising.  If that was the case, then I want all the billboards taken down off the highways.  My hard earned tax dollars helped pay for the roads and now I have to look at the billboards while I drive? (I know, the city/state/fed government doesn't own the billboard AND the roads, but work with me...).

There is a paradigm shift going on for consumers and business.  We demand programming when we want it (TiVo, podcasting, pause buttons for satellite radio, etc.).  We want customized everything (iPods, clothes, Starbucks' coffee, M&M's, etc.).

I do believe that Hollywood should give us the option to get a movie on DVD immediately after seeing the show, but P2P networks already have shows on the Internet way before movies release into theaters.  Why can't Hollywood get into bed with the cable companies and serve up the new movie into my living room?  Now this really would kill the movie theaters!

Jackie, your post really got me thinking, but I believe that they can serve up advertising just like Hollywood does with their trailers.

The real issue to me is the movie "start" time.  Its false advertising.  The time is when the lights go down for the advertising "start" time.  That issue has been to court (outcome?).

When do we have the right not to be advertised to?  Now that's a good question!

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Comments

[Christopher Bailey]

Todd, I'm sort of with you on this one. I remember being in the UK in the early 90s and they had adverts for about 20 minutes up to the movie's start time. Most of them were quite clever. I wondered how long it would take for this to occur in the States.

Now at our local cineplex, we have what appears to be an NBC-sponsored (or whoever their parent is these days - it's hard to keep track) program called The Twenty. Lots of ads and crap. But, you know what? It beats sitting there in the theater listening to the hideous muzak of a few years ago.

As much as we would like it to be this way, we are never going to be able to completely personalize the world just exactly the way we want it.

[K. Todd Storch]

Its completely understandable to me the irritation factor of the ads. There's more comment conversation that is going on at the original post.

Agree with you 100% on "no more Muzak"!!!

Todd