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/
You bring up a very interesting point. I never even thought that the Lorax was a really popular character to begin with. I wonder what would happen if this movie was a box office bust? Would it negatively affect the sales and performance of Target or Mazda? I agree that they are taking the Lorax character too far. It is getting overexposed and becoming redundant and annoying, just like the "cavemen" from the Geico commercials. Seriously, enough is enough. Its time for a new idea for a change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this bad advertising as I have been noticing the same thing. I did not go and read the article but as you highlighted the important aspects of it I believe it brings up a great point. Sometimes you really wonder how much money a movie could make just from advertising all over the place. This might even turn parents off to not want to see the movie as the potentially could be 'sick of it' before it even comes into theaters.
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