We went to the movies today to see “Public Enemies”. We arrived and found our seats just as the commercials began. As I sat there, I started remembering the good ol’ days when you went to the movies and saw a Shell sponsored educational ad, a cartoon, and coming attractions. Those were the days, weren’t they?
Now when we go to the theatre and shell out our hard-earned cash, we have to first sit through commercials that we used to only have to see on TV at home. I rarely even watch commercials on TV thanks to digital recorders and DVDs, but even still, I don’t recognize most of the commercials that I see at the movies.
Why do we have to see commercials at the theatre when we paid the high ticket price for the movie itself? It was one thing to see the advertising on the screen before the movie began, but we were usually too busy talking to our seat mates to pay much attention to it. Now, the lights go down and you think, “Oh, this is it! The movie that I’ve been waiting for!”. Instead, you’re treated to 10-15 minutes of commercials for products that I could care less about. What am I going to do, though? Get up and leave the theatre and ask for my money back?
Hmmmm…. Maybe the next time I go to a theatre, I’ll ask for the movie theatre seating without the commercials before the movie. We’ll see how far that gets me.