i recently read an article on adage.com called "How Much 'Lorax' Advertising is too much?". The article talks about how the Dr. Seuss character, the "Lorax" has been all over the tv the past few weeks and not just to promote the new movie. The character has been cross-promoting a Mazda SUV, Seventh Generation Diapers and has also been involved in in-store promotions in places such as Target and Pottery Barn (Poggi). The Lorax was even a "guest judge" on Mondays episode of "The Voice". The article says that when advertising for kids, more is usually better however it could send negative messages for the parents. For example, with the promotion of the Mazda SUV, the car is driving through scenes from the movie, as the character is trying to promote the actual vehicle on tv. Mazda has turned a simple children's character into a cars salesman. I think these advertisements are taking this character too far. The movie just came out on friday, no one even knew if it would be a huge hit. What if the movie had negative ratings and all these companies use this character to promote their product? That would have been a bad advertising call for them. Also, noone wants to see the same character in every commercial or all over the place, people will only end up ignoring the commercial because they are annoyed by it.
Poggi, Jeanine. "How Much 'Lorax' Advertising is Too Much" 02 March, 2012. http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/lorax-advertising/233092/
