‘Porno’ proves to be tough sell in movie’s ads

[The Spartan]

Dressed Link.

'Porno' proves to be tough sell in movie's ads
Newspaper, TV and outdoor displays being rejected for ‘Zack and Miri ...’
The Associated Press
updated 10:47 a.m. CT, Wed., Oct. 15, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Kevin Smith made a movie with such a bothersome title he cannot even place ads for it in some places.

Some newspaper, TV and outdoor ads for Smith’s comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” have been rejected because of their content or the five-letter word that ends the title, said Gary Faber, head of marketing for the Weinstein Co., which is releasing the film.

Among those refusing to carry ads are about 15 newspapers and several TV stations and cable channels, Faber said. Commercials for the film during Los Angeles Dodgers games on Fox Sports were dropped at the team’s request after some viewers complained, said Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch.

One complaint came from a man watching a game in September with his young son, who did not understand a suicide-squeeze bunt the Dodgers tried, Rawitch said.

“He was explaining to his son what a squeeze bunt was. Commercial break, the ad comes on, and the kid asks, ‘Dad, what does porno mean?”’ Rawitch said. “Dodgers baseball has always been about family, and we’ve always been sensitive to the type of advertising that runs on our games.”

The city of Philadelphia refused “Zack and Miri” posters at bus stops. Similar posters at Boston bus stops have drawn complaints from a child-development expert who said they are inappropriate for children.

Smith found it ironic that the posters have been a problem. Some playfully risque ads with images of “Zack and Miri” stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks were forbidden by the Motion Picture Association of America, which called the ads “highly sexually suggestive and not suitable for general audiences.”

So Weinstein came up with posters using stick figures to represent the actors.

“The whole idea was, our hands were so tied on all previous entries we’d given them that this ad was meant to be the innocuous one that would get approved everywhere,” Smith said.

Rina Cutler, Philadelphia deputy mayor for transportation, said the stick-figure posters were cute and clever but unacceptable for bus shelters where schoolchildren would see the word “porno.”

“If they want to call the movie ‘Zack and Miri,’ that’s fine, but Zack and Miri cannot make a porno on my bus shelters,” Cutler said.

Opening Oct. 31, “Zack and Miri” features Rogen and Banks as platonic best buddies and roommates who decide to make their own skin flick to dig themselves out of debt.

Diane Levin, an education professor specializing in child development at Boston’s Wheelock College, said the posters at city bus stops send a message to children that working in the porn industry is an acceptable occupation.

“It’s drawing attention to a movie which is mainstreaming and normalizing pornography, saying if you need money, this is what you do,” said Levin, co-author of “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.”

The stick-figure images are especially appealing to youngsters, since “stick figures are something for children,” she said.

Weinstein marketing boss Faber countered: “It’s a comedy. It’s a joke. We’re not advertising a porno. It’s not a porno. The word ‘porno,’ it’s not supposed to turn you on. It’s supposed to make you laugh.”

The ratings board of the MPAA initially slapped “Zack and Miri” with an NC-17 rating, a box-office kiss of death because audiences view such films as explicit adult-only flicks. Smith appealed and talked the film down to an R rating.


Faber said the company has been able to place its ads in most of the outlets it has approached. For newspapers that rejected them because of the word “porno,” Weinstein might play around with variations that exclude the title, he said.

The company developed a version of the stick-figure poster without the film’s name, bearing the slogan, “Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks made a movie so outrageous that we can’t even tell you the title.”

A likely harmless comedy with a "scandalous" name gets this kind of uproar? Jesus, it never fails; you do something targeted to adult audiences and the Lovejoys stream out of the woodwork shrieking about the children and how will they protect them from learning a word?!

[The Vortex Empire]

What the hell? It's a word.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Puritan America, what do you expect.

[tim31]

Confused as to why 'R' is a downgrade from NC-17, I consulted wikipedia. The MPAA's system is very different to the Australian OFLC system, in which R is the top rating(18+), and below that is MA(15+ restricted), then M(15+ recommended), and down to PG and G.

Also while reading the wikipedia article:

The MPAA stresses the voluntary nature of their film rating system, denying that it could inhibit a film's commercial distribution and so deny the businessman-filmmaker the right to earn a profit and make a living.

!!!

[SirNitram]

MPAA ratings are purely voluntary. You are free to refuse the standards being applied. THen you get virtually no screen time.

It is voluntary. You just don't have much of a movie showing without it.

[K. A. Pital]

WTF? Complaining over the word "porno"? Nuts.

I really wonder why though. I don't see complaints against rap music videos (hell, even general music videos) getting much of TV's prime time, and they sure could rate as softcore porn, some of them.

[Ekiqa]

WTF? Complaining over the word "porno"? Nuts.

I really wonder why though. I don't see complaints against rap music videos (hell, even general music videos) getting much of TV's prime time, and they sure could rate as softcore porn, some of them.

It could be that they advocate guns and violence, which is more acceptable than sex.

Here in Canada, the posters are all over the subway system, and no stick figures, but real pictures of the main characters.

[Terralthra]

Diane Levin, an education professor specializing in child development at Boston’s Wheelock College, said the posters at city bus stops send a message to children that working in the porn industry is an acceptable occupation.

“It’s drawing attention to a movie which is mainstreaming and normalizing pornography, saying if you need money, this is what you do,” said Levin, co-author of “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.”

(emphasis mine)

Aside from the "think of teh children!" appeal to emotion, doesn't the whole argument here rest on the idea that working in the porn industry is not an acceptable way to earn a paycheck?

[Hotfoot]

Diane Levin, an education professor specializing in child development at Boston’s Wheelock College, said the posters at city bus stops send a message to children that working in the porn industry is an acceptable occupation.

“It’s drawing attention to a movie which is mainstreaming and normalizing pornography, saying if you need money, this is what you do,” said Levin, co-author of “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.”

(emphasis mine)

Aside from the "think of teh children!" appeal to emotion, doesn't the whole argument here rest on the idea that working in the porn industry is not an acceptable way to earn a paycheck?

Does the SAW series tell children that torturing people is an acceptable occupation? I mean, really, look at some of the shit gore-fests that have been shoveled on the nation. Look at the juvenile toilet humor we've been made to suffer with the Scary/Epic/Disaster Movie series.