You pay $8 for a ticket, then stand in a long line for the privilege of spending ten more dollars on fake-buttered popcorn and over-iced soda. You finally settle into your seat, anticipating the thrills and chills of Friday the 13th Part XVII. The lights dim, and...what's this? A commercial! You paid almost twenty dollars to watch a commercial?

Darn tootin'. The Cinema Billboard Network, which is part of a company that distributes commercials to more than 11,500 movie screens, boasts: "We have a captive audience watching your advertisement. No interruptions! The patrons sitting in the theaters are not going anywhere."

So it hasn't happened to your theater yet? Don't get too smug, you lucky thing–parent company Screenvision Cinema Network expects to add another 6,000 screens during the next two years, according to the Los Angeles Times. And since 1997, over 11,000 screens have added audio commercials distributed by the Theater Radio Network. Jeff Arthur, Theater Radio Network's co-founder and CEO, says about theaters, "Whether you or I like it or not, every conceivable space is going to be filled with some type of advertising."

Another form of movie advertising – product placements – dominates many movies. "You've Got Mail" is tied to America Online, "Inspector Gadget" and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" had repeated product placements for various advertisers, and Tommy Hilfiger conducted a roughly $15 million ad campaign on behalf of "The Faculty," which was almost a motion-picture length ad for Tommy Hilfiger clothing.

The movie theaters, distribution companies, and advertisers are counting on you to sit there like a good little captive audience while they pitch you products on your own dime. Take a stand against movie ads–just not in the theater, because you may block someone's view of the advertising.

Stop Pre-Movie Ads has a bunch of resources, including a list of theaters that don't show ads. This list is small and growing, so please e-mail the Webmaster so she can add your local ad-free theaters!

Ralph Nader and Commercial Alert Want Theaters to Disclose When Movies (Not Ads) Start, Urge Moviegoers to Say "No Commercials" When Pre-Movie Ads are Shown in Theater.

Kathy Prentice, "As we go off to the movies so are America's top advertisers: Loads of ad messages for the holiday crowd." MediaLife Magazine, December 1999.

Get the BadAds Weblog updates via e-mail! We'll keep you up-to-date on news in intrusive advertising, changes to BadAds.org, and new ways you can fight "ad creep."

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