I'm so sick of reading status update after status update about how this person can't wait to go see new moon. They are counting the minutes. They have their tickets and OMG isn't Taylor SOOO cute????
Barf, barf, barf, barf.
But now the entire marketing industry has been bitten too. A story on NPR went down a laundry list of marketing gimmicks that have latched onto the neck of this movie and are sucking as much blood as this series will give.
Ken and Barbie will now look like Edward and Bella (I can't believe I even know their names!!).
And of course there are the usual do-dads everyone must have--t-shirts, key chains, posters, underwear. I'm sure Target and Wal-Mart are packed with vampire tshatashkis. After all, doesn't everyone need a vampire toothbrush for keeping those fangs pearly white?
I can't help but be reminded of high school when a popular kid would coin a new word (like in the movie Never Been Kissed when the popular guy decided Rufus was the new word for cool) and everyone starts saying this word because then maybe they'll get to be cool too!
It's coolness by association. Perhaps I'm just bitter because I was the nerdy Josie Geller of the group and would have followed right along if given the opportunity.
Marketers like Burger King making a New Moon meal, although really not any more ridiculous than any other strategy they use, seems sort of desperate.
But perhaps even more desperate (or is the more correct term ingenious?) is the link Volvo has made with their Whatdrivesedward.com promotion. They have used this movie and the incredible appeal to young viewers to draw attention to their rather old brand. Let's face it, soccer moms drive Volvos, not hot vampires.
So I guess while I see the marketing frenzy accompanying New Moon as cheesy and rather vampirous in itself, I can see how this can make these brand a lot of money--even if they look rather silly in the process. But then who has ever cared about looking silly when millions of dollars are on the table?
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I too don’t understand the fascination with the Twilight franchise! Perhaps it’s because I didn’t read the books. I just really didn’t think the first movie was that good; at all actually. Actually I thought it was pretty terrible. I do like books more than I do movies typically, but I just can’t bring myself to read them. The vampire love thing is old news, and it just doesn’t interest me. Burger King can keep its meals, I’m sick of hearing about this.
ReplyDeleteThe New Moon fascination has hit our household. Our daughter, who has a daughter, loves the book series; she is not a blood and gore type of person but a hopeless romantic. We bought her the books not long ago and within 3 days she had read the set.
ReplyDeleteShe was soooo glad that she was visiting us so when she received the books so that my husband and I could watch and play with the baby and she could spend some quality time reading. Hey in my book (no pun intended) this was a win-win situation.
As for me, yes I am a hopeless romantic but I am more of a Mr. Darcy fan than of Edward.
I hear where you’re coming from! It is just amazing to me the amount of hype that is swirling everywhere around this movie. I have friends that started standing in line at the movie theater in Fargo on Thursday afternoon so they would be one of the first to get inside and get their seats for the movie they’ve been waiting for since the credits for Twilight rolled last fall.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don’t get is why this movie? I was in high school when Titanic came out, and while my friends and I did see Leo two or three times in the movie theater, I just don’t remember this mad rush and all the accompanying advertising that we see today. Is my memory accurate, or does someone remember that time more clearly than I?!
I too am not one of those girls that had the tickets to the midnight showing of New Moon a month in advance. I only recently saw the first movie and we rented it from the Red Box because there weren’t many other good options and we were kind of curious as to why there was so much hype around the series. I can’t stand vampire stories and just things that aren’t realistic in general but I did enjoy the movie. I am not about to go out and by the book set or even the movie on DVD. I probably won’t even see the new movie until it comes to a Red Box so that means a few months away…and I am perfectly content with that.
ReplyDeleteI do see why so many companies are jumping on the bandwagon and using the oh so popular movie as a marketing strategy…brilliant in fact!!! Why not take something that you know everyone is paying attention to and incorporate it with your company so it to will receive the attention.
[warning: long post ahead]
ReplyDeleteFirst off, watch this. It makes me laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvWObJ4sRf4
I read the Twilight books when they first came out, before the hype and the screaming 13-year-old girls. I'm friends with my librarian, who said "You HAVE to read Twilight! Edward is so dreamy and cool!!!!" (for the record, she is 30 some years old). My first reaction was "Edward. What a stupid name. Fine, I'll try them." I thought the books were decent, but had no desire to read them again.
Okay, first point. Bella and Edward's relationship was very forced, in my opinion. Like "oh, plot device says we must be attracted to each other, so that is what will happen."
The book and movie completely caters to the desires of the female mind. I love a sweet, sensitive guy as much as the next girl, but Edward was just so unbelievable to me. Also, Bella shouldn't just throw her life and her soul away for some guy she hardly knows. Good lesson for the kids there.
And just how dense are the people in Forks? How can nobody figure out that there's something weird about them? They never go out in the sunlight, they are pale, and they never eat regular food ever.
Another qualm I have with the movies is the sexual objectification of the men. Yes, their six-packs are gorgeous, but the actors throw their shirts off every chance they get. I don't like women being objectified for the pleasure of the opposite sex, so I don't approve of men being objectified in the same way.
I can't believe that Volvo has Edward in their commercials. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the commercial. I can see 13-year olds pressuring their parents to get a Volvo, but no kid that age can drive yet herself.
Lastly, vampires don't sparkle.
I hate Twilight. I haven't seen it but I hate it. Just like I hated Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pokemon, and everything else I can't think of. It is an idiotic fad that will (hopefully) die out. I get it when all the High School Musical loving girls start to love Twilight but COLLEGE GIRLS? COLLEGE GUYS!!? MY ROOMMATES??!! What has this world come to. I'm wrappin' up in garlic with my six shooter full of silver bullets.
ReplyDeleteZack,
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing so hard I have tears streaming! Thank you for making my dull when-will-it-just-be-over Wednesday afternoon worth hanging around for!
Kayley--thank you for that link! Have you ever watched Mystery Science Theater? My brother and I used to watch it all the time. Same thing--only they make fun of old movies no one has ever seen. this is better! :)