From the early reviews, everyone has already guessed that Batman: The Dark Knight is well worth the price of admission. But you get an even bigger treat that no one is talking about.
The J.C. Penney’s :60 second ad that appears prior to the movie is so painfully bad, that you could hear people all around us in the theater saying “well, they just made sure I’ll never shop there,” and “didn’t Target try and convince us THEY were cool… like five years ago?”
I can’t find a video of it anywhere – which either tells me that Saatchi doesn’t understand the nature of viral video, or they understand it all too well and wants this thing seen as little as possible.
Pick the lamest group of people you’ve ever been acquainted with, and then send them out with all the budget they need to do a :60 second remake of The Breakfast Club – complete with “Don’t You Forget About Me” painfully done cover song, jock doing the pull string dance on his hoody, running around corners in the school hallway and trying to change direction, thrashing at the top of the “art” in the middle of the library.
There’s not much worse in advertising or PR than when an old-fashioned company tries to convince you they’re not old-fashioned by running an ad that shows them to be painfully old-fashioned. You can just hear the board saying “This is cool, right? This is popular with the young people.”
I’m sorry, it’s just too painful to even talk about. Not sure if this is full run, but from the sounds of the article, it might just be. So go and check out Batman, but make sure you get there in time for the Penney’s ad. You’ll be making extra time after the movie just to talk about it.
Here’s Penney’s rationale (or… their side of the story).
Andy Hayman's remains... 