Prize for tasteless marketing?

[Fungus]

There ought to be a prize for the worst ever advertising of a movie. I nominate "Conspiracy of Hearts". See my web site devoted to it!

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/jgoodliffe/mgpow/cons.htm

One of the marketing angles for this film suggested advertising on the following lines:

Tie up angle: Every shop lays claim to offering four star service, and on this basis a phrase along these lines can be used: "If you want four star quality use Smith's Dry Cleaning Service - and if it's four star entertainment you like don't miss Lilli Palmer ... in "Conspiracy of Hearts" at the Rex next week.""

and a readers' letter contest:

" ... a film so stirring that it cannot fail to impress even the most fastidious of your patrons. The picture runs the gamut of love, devotion and sincerity throughout... Suggest to your local editor that he runs a contest in which readers would be asked to submit their personal story of love, devotion, humanity and sincerity."

[Vermin Boy]

Not a movie marketing campaign, but the most tasteless advertising campaign I've ever seen was for a hearing aid. The ad played like a normal, cloying hearing aid ad ("Grandpa, your new hearing aid works so well. But why can't I see it?"), until the end, where it went something like this:

"If you or someone you know is having trouble hearing, _____________________________ Call 555-whatever."

The soundrtack completely cut out for a second or two, coming back just before the phone number. It wasn't an accident, either; I saw the ad at least five times. Bet they got some angry phonecalls for that one...

Also, the coolest advertising scheme for a movie I've heard of was for Rock 'n' Roll Frankenstein: The producers paid homeless people to display the movie poster on their shopping carts. Sure, it sounds tasteless, but they did give money to people who needed it.

[Squishy]

Well, the most tasteless print ad I ever saw comes from back in the '70s: I'm not absolutely sure, but I think it's from Who Slew Auntie Roo?, a title that's not so much tasteless as it is stupid. Anyway, the print ad featured a close-up of a horrified woman's face. The woman looks like Phyllis Diller on a bad-hair day, which is bad enough, but in the foreground, comic-book-style art depicts a rat being decapitated with a meat cleaver, with blood splattering every which way.

Right next to "Peanuts."

Wow, how'd audiences and the Academy overlook THIS film?

[PoorLogic]

The radio ad for "13 Ghosts" (I think the TV ad is the same) would state : "This movie is rated R for language, violence, nudity and drug use" something along those lines...what a cheap-ass way to draw in people! Talk about micro-marketing to total losers. Nice to see the movie leave theaters quicker than "Leonard Part 6".

[Vermin Boy]

I dunno, I kinda like that technique... Sorta the equivalent of the old trailers claiming to offer free burial services to anyone who dies of fright. Sure, it's exploitative, but would Castle have it any other way?

[Tom White]

Yeah, I've seen a bad one.
A marketing campaign for Nike that they cancelled because it was offensive to the disabled. What were they thinking?

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/nike.htm

This site has details and a picture of the ad.