How Ethan Hunt Killed an Innocent Newspaper Machine
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels
OK, here's the short version. Paramount and the L.A. Times decided it might be nifty to jam a
little music box into 4,500 of the newspaper's sales machines, one that would treat you to a tiny, tinny rendition of
the Mission: Impossible theme if you, movie fan or not, happened to purchase a newspaper. And nobody stopped
to consider that if one of those little music boxes were jarred loose (Really, don't folks let those newspaper machines
just SLAM shut?), then one unfortunate paper-buyer might open said machine and discover something that looks
... a lot ... like a ... bomb.Granted, a bomb that plays the Mission: Impossible theme probably isn't all that hazardous, but let's cut right to the meat of the matter:
Movie marketing is freakin' ridiculous already. I mean ... are you MORE likely to go see Mission: Impossible 3 (on May 5th!) if your local paper machine is chirping its theme song? Does the fact that Lalo Schifrin's eponymous theme song has been permanently seared into your brain-stem make you want to see Tom Cruise's latest actionfest? ("Hey honey, I previously had no interest whatsoever in seeing Mission: Impossible 3, directed by Lost's J.J. Abrams, but after buying that fantastic copy of The L.A. Times ... I now, strangely, feel more likely to purchase several tickets ... and on opening weekend, too! Oh, let's go over to Best Buy right now and ask if they have Impossible Missions 1 and 2 on DVD!")
Yeah, so the L.A. bomb squad was called, they blew up the paper machine (an ironic thing for a bomb squad to do, but there you have it) and discovered that the nefarious-looking doo-hickey was merely an expensive toy from Paramount ... and the studio got a nice big dose of extra publicity because of it. Apparently it was all part of Paramount's plan to "turn the 'everyday news rack experience' into an 'extraordinary mission'. " -- to which I'd humbly respond "just gimme my freakin' newspaper and quit trying to brainwash me."
Mission: Impossible 3, which I'm looking forward to AND sick to death of at the same time, opens on May 5th.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-30-2006 @ 7:11PM
Watson said...
Of course this was not meant, in itself, to convince people to go to a theater and see the film. Not all advertising works directly in that way. The primary goal of this, I would imagine, would be simply to remind people of the fact that a Mission Impossible film is coming up. Such a device, in combination with all of the many other campaigns that they're using, bring reminders of the film to people throughout their day and their week.
In the end, when people are at the theater, they hope that they'll say, "Hmm. I've heard a lot about that mission impossible movie lately..."
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5-01-2006 @ 10:09AM
Nawaaz said...
Stop trying to insult the Mission Impossible films. They are classics, and you should self destruct in 5 seconds if you are sick to death of Ethan Hunt (hanging down from a cord scenes!!!) and the incomparable theme tune!
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