| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/14/2007 : 17:13:03
Hello, all.
I've noticed a strange trend in movie marketing lately: the overuse of big, chunky red letters against a white backdrop, specifically in posters and trailers for atrocious movie comedies. I can cite numerous recent examples: Epic Movie, Norbit, Are We Done Yet?, and the trailer for the yet-to-be-released but unappetizing Kickin' it Old Skool. It's getting to be if a movie's ad campaign features big red letters against a white backdrop, I instinctively know to stay far away. Here are some examples:
http://tinyurl.com/yv48w8
http://tinyurl.com/2437dn
http://tinyurl.com/ynntsc
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/arewedoneyet/
http://blogs.indiewire.com/reverseshot/archives/little_man.jpg
What is going on here? What is it about big red letters on white background? And why is it synonymous with hacky, unfunny, gimmicky comedies? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 04/21/2007 : 09:39:20
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Don't tell me his Fun with Dick and Jane was good.
If you read Benj's post, you can see that he was agreeing with you. 
Ah... oh... silly dyslexic me.
(Nevermind) |
| redPen |
Posted - 04/20/2007 : 10:39:11
quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
It is Marketing Strategy 101 - get their attention, and nothing gets your attention faster than red on white.
i.e. Coke, Maorborough cigarettes, virgin, keloogs corn flaked (w/a bit of green)etc.
Whoa, Bean, yer mixin' yer red-on-whites with yer white-on-reds! Bet you have a lotta "pink" undershirts, don'tcha?
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| Beanmimo |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 17:10:22
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
It is Marketing Strategy 101 - get their attention, and nothing gets your attention faster than red on white.
i.e. Coke, Maorborough cigarettes, virgin, keloogs corn flaked (w/a bit of green)etc. |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 13:32:02
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Don't tell me his Fun with Dick and Jane was good.
If you read Benj's post, you can see that he was agreeing with you. |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 12:20:29
Don't tell me his Fun with Dick and Jane was good. I refuse to believe you. I saw the original with George Segal and Jane Fonda, and it was a true gem. I cannot understand why they had to remake it, unless they wanted to pander to the ADD/ADHD audiences who can't laugh at anthing that isn't slapsick.
BAH!
(Went to see it at a double-feature, where we saw this first and King Kong (1976) afterwards. We loved it so much, we stayed on to see it a second time so we could leave the theatre with smiles on our faces, instead of the bad taste in our mouths from Kong.)
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| benj clews |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 10:32:52
Not that all Red-Letter Movies are bad...
Jim Carrey seems to be the king of watchable Red-Letter Movies (assuming that, like me, you enjoy his schtick anyway). He started out with Red-Letter Movies (Ace Ventura, Dumb & Dumber), dallied with a couple of Green-Letter movies (The Mask, The Grinch) and has frequently popped back to Red-Letter Movies (Truman Show, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty (let's ignore 'Fun' With Dick And Jane)). |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 03:23:37
quote:
Originally posted by redPen
Don't forget Nutty Professors I and II, and Daddy Day Care, too! Eddie M. sure does rely on this brand of marketing!
Yeah. Sadly, Murphy has become the king of red-letter movies. Even though the ad campaigns don't always feature *actual* red letters, they're very much red-letter movies in spirit. It's really a style of obnoxious, shrill marketing for gimmicky, dumb comedies. Norbit may have been the film which made me take notice of this trend. Sadly, Steve Martin seems to be following in Murphy's footsteps, as are Ice Cube, Eugene Levy, Robin Williams, and Martin Lawrence. Rob Schneider's always been a red-letter guy, and David Spade seems destined for a career of red-letter movies. |
| redPen |
Posted - 04/17/2007 : 07:15:29
Don't forget Nutty Professors I and II, and Daddy Day Care, too! Eddie M. sure does rely on this brand of marketing! |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/16/2007 : 01:00:23
Perhaps there is a new entry for the "movie cliche glossary" here.
red-letter movie (n.) Any high-concept, lowbrow, "wacky" movie comedy with a gimmicky premise, aggressively and pervasively marketed with inescapable TV spots, posters, bus ads, billboards, and trailers featuring blocky, bright red letters against a white backdrop. Frequently starring "zany" TV comedians doing funny voices and wearing wigs and/or fat suits. Red-letter movies often include one or more of the following: bumbling dads, wisecracking children, anthropomorphic animals, foolish Caucasians clumsily appropriating hip-hop slang, etc. Examples: Epic Movie, Norbit, Little Man, Are We Done Yet, many others. "Do you want to see Gangsta Grandma 2 with Rob Schneider?" "No, that's just a red-letter movie. They'll run it on Comedy Central a thousand times."
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| benj clews |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 13:27:58
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
I fully realize that red lettering has been used in movie posters before, often for good quality movies. But what I'm referring to is a super-specific trend for a certain type of recent movie comedy.
I guess the association is most commonly with these kinds of films simply because big, bold red lettering best fits comedies of the 'wacky' variety. I'm sure they'd probably do the same thing for the latest David Lynch epic, but it wouldn't really fit with the rest of the advertising campaign.
As you rightly point out, it's now a cliche, but this is an advantage in the advertisers' eyes- it's a no-brainer and they're basically saying "Remember that last film you saw with big, bold red lettering that you liked so much? Well, this is just like that, so you're going to like this too". What this basically means is that as long as the average oik continues paying to see Norbit, Epic Movie, et al... advertisers are going to keep flogging more films the same way.
Apologies if I'm just stating the obvious here...  |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 06:39:12
Hello, again.
Yeah, I realize red is the most eye-catching color. That's obviously nothing new. But what I'm really noticing is the sudden recent increase of big fat red letters -- always in a blocky, sans serif font -- in ad campaigns for movie comedies in the last few years. It's rapidly become a cliche in posters, TV spots, and trailers. And the movies being advertised are always -- always -- high-concept, gimmicky movies. It's like some advertising exec out there is saying, "Okay, we've got to advertise this movie with Jimmy Fallon as a wisecracking CGI talking poodle who learns martial arts from Jackie Chan and then they win a rap battle against Ben Stiller. Break out the standard-issue big fat red letters and get that one House of Pain song for the TV commercial."
I fully realize that red lettering has been used in movie posters before, often for good quality movies. But what I'm referring to is a super-specific trend for a certain type of recent movie comedy.
As for Kickin' It Old Skool, I cannot comment on the quality of the movie. But I sat through the trailer TWICE on Friday, and I stand by my claim that it is unappetizing. I will admit getting a few chuckles from Jamie Kennedy's Comedy Central special. |
| TitanPa |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 06:10:07
I thought that '28 Days Later' started this trend. the sequel '28 Weeks Later' has the same style. |
| Mr Savoir Faire |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 05:52:33
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Hello, all.
I've noticed a strange trend in movie marketing lately: the overuse of big, chunky red letters against a white backdrop, specifically in posters and trailers for atrocious movie comedies. I can cite numerous recent examples: Epic Movie, Norbit, Are We Done Yet?, and the trailer for the yet-to-be-released but unappetizing Kickin' it Old Skool. It's getting to be if a movie's ad campaign features big red letters against a white backdrop, I instinctively know to stay far away. Here are some examples:
http://tinyurl.com/yv48w8
http://tinyurl.com/2437dn
http://tinyurl.com/ynntsc
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/arewedoneyet/
http://blogs.indiewire.com/reverseshot/archives/little_man.jpg
What is going on here? What is it about big red letters on white background? And why is it synonymous with hacky, unfunny, gimmicky comedies?
Interesting observation! I am a little angry that Kickin it Old Skool is lumped in there (Ebert is speaking very positively about this film and in real life Jamie Kennedy is a nice guy). Anyway, here's what I could find: Jaws, One Million Years BC, Casablanca, Scary Movie 4, Monster in law, scarface, magnum force, breakfast at Tiffany's, Date movie, Dirty Harry,
http://www.crankycritic.com/archive/posters/jaws.jpg
http://www.bigbaby.com/dickmac/AliveBlog/RaquelWelch.jpg
http://www.cinematical.com/media/2006/12/casablanca.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/horror/1/0/0/O/scary_movie_four_ver2.jpg
http://ramchandra.me.uk/blog/archives/images/may05/monsterinlaw.jpg
http://www.ewebjunk.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/scarface.jpg
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8017/magnumforcefj7.jpg
http://www.ghost-stories.net/images/audrey-hepburn-sexy-movie-pictures.jpg
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPO/50513~Date-Movie-Posters.jpg
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| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 05:45:00
It is Marketing Strategy 101 - get their attention, and nothing gets your attention faster than red on white.
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| lemmycaution |
Posted - 04/15/2007 : 02:33:15
Does large red get attention? |
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