Cheesus Crust said:
I'd like to disagree on the part where you said companies don't invest in things that don't give them their money back, ideally that's what they do. It's like saying that everything that companies invest their money in definitely succeeds and gives them there money back all the time. Risk always exists and sometimes ads don't perform the way companies want them to. Sometimes companies just make bad decisions even if its related to advertising.
Porsche undoubtedly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions on advertising the Posche Carrera GT back in the 2000's. It stopped production I think two or three years because there weren't enough buyers. People were more aware of it than most super cars especially because it was featured in a lot of racing games and other materials. In the end they failed to earn anything from that project and stopped it because of the losses.
Or what about movies that get advertised as being one thing and end up being another which leads to the movie bombing at the box office? Hudson Hawk is a campy movie that stars Bruce Willis when he was making the transition to the Die Hard action hero he is well known for. Hudson Hawk was advertised as another Die Hard movie. The movie bombed at the box office having a budget of $65 million and only earning $17 million. I can't pin the ad as being the only reason but we can't deny that the box office results suffered partly because of the switcheroo.
But you are right in a sense that all people get affected by ads by simply being aware of what they are advertising. As far as I know all ads have to really do is increase awareness first and convince people to do something second. The very first razor I bought was the cheapest thing I could find and I've seen more than enough ads to know that Gillette takes their product way more seriously than most other brands since I was a kid, in fact its the only razor brand that I know (Yes I don't know the brand of the razor that I'm using but I don't really care since it works and it's cheap).
I agree that there are no absolutes in advertising and risk IS a big factor in new product and promotion decisions. I can't speak of the car specifically (not a car guy, you're lucky that I know it goes vroom-vroom and beep-beep), but part of the reason for pitching films different than their base storyline is to make broader appeal. In advertising, a generic hook is a hook that is more likely to fit the tastes of more folks and this is nowhere more true than Hollywood. Hudson Hawk might be an exception to the rule, but Hollywood advertises their films as generic action film or generic horror films because those types of films usually sell better than films that challenge the genre.
Hollywood assumes that you are stupid and don't like to be challenged. The interesting conundrum is that a great deal of filmmakers (at least when they start out) aim to be auteurs and create challenging material. Most wannabe auteurs are usually left behind in the film industry, but occasionally you get a studio exec who has run out of other scripts, or who owes someone a favor, or most commonly-- feels that they can appeal the film pitch to a mass audience. And indeed, this is where a bigger flaw in the industry becomes apparent; nobody reads a script beyond the first page until production begins.
That's why everything about a film (its promotion, its casting, even its initial greenlight) is based on that first hook. If the hook is good, made early, and captivating, the movie gets made. Sometimes a film suffers for this, certainly. But more often it doesn't. When an audience knows what to expect going in to your film, you're going to be making more bank than someone with an honest message. That's why the highest grossing film of all time is
Avatar and not
Citizen Kane, no matter how many times film enthusiasts claim it to be the best film ever made. The top grossing films of this year, (
The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, The Amazing Spiderman, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2, Skyfall, Brave, Ted, Madagascar 3, and The Lorax) regardless of critical acclaim or story elements, were all exactly what they were billed or advertised as. That's why, even if your film doesn't fit a genre convention or traditional story pattern, you *make* it fit in your advertising to try and grab some of that sweet cash.
Demographics and the products catered to them are usually self-fulfilling prophecies. Not always, but usually. Correlation does not equal causation, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't happen a lot.
