Disney’s ‘Meet the Robinsons’ topical PSA

posted by schmadrian on December 25, 2006 at 7:30 am

Take a look at this public service announcement, presumably to be shown in cinemas when the upcoming animated film is released. I’m sure you’ll all get a chuckle. (Although I do think that it’s a bit naive to redress popcorn eaters for being ‘too noisy’, seeing as theater operators depend on bags and bags of this stuff being sold!)

Comments (7)

lauraann151
lauraann151 on December 25, 2006 at 10:41 am

I think that this is a clever way to address the concerns of the theatergoing public. However, even though theater operators do depend on the money they receive from the sales of popcorn, those who purchase do have both the ability and the obligation to be considerate of their fellow moviegoers.

schmadrian
schmadrian on December 25, 2006 at 10:47 am

LMAO!

By doing what?!?

I get a large bag of popcorn at every performance I take in. I’m eating for a good forty-five minutes. How do you propose I be ‘considerate of my fellow moviegoers’?!?

longislandmovies…and other industry participants…I’m expecting you to weigh in on this matter!

schmadrian
schmadrian on December 26, 2006 at 7:42 am

First off, who says I don’t eat ‘quietly’? You have no idea whether I do or don’t; you’re simply making an assumption based on your own biases.

And I find the notion of debating whether I ‘have’ to get a large to be hilarious. Let’s look at this for a second; I’m not bringing food into the cinema from the outside, I’m not jawin' on nuts or other crunchy food. This is faire the cinema owners are quite seriously desperate to sell, so much so that there was once a tradition of making sure the aroma of freshly-popped corn was blown into the auditorium; seditious marketing if I ever heard tell of it!

Your comment about my asking how I might be considerate being proof of my having a ‘tough time doing that very thing’ reveals more about me than you; I found (and still find) the issue to be not only wildy funny, but quite frankly, preposterous.

And finally, my ‘reasons for posting’ had nothing to do with altruism. I never stated that they did. Not all posts on this site are for ‘information purposes only’. Some, like this one, are meant to spark debate, dialogue, discussion. Or do you find that notion to run contrary to ‘considerate behaviour’?

Honestly, I find your response to be, at the least, quite judgemental, especially seeing as you have no clue whatever as to the ‘loudness’ of my habit. All of this is ironic because this past weekend, I had to contend with two septuagenarians who insisted on talking â€"and singing along to the showtunes on-screen!â€" through almost all of ‘The Good Shepard’. Me, I was being considerate, sitting there eating my large popcorn (supporting not only the film industry but the cinema operators themselves), while these two ingrates yakked and trilled. (And I’m pointing out their ages because for once, it wasn’t the ‘younger’ audience members who were spoiling it for everyone else. It was two people who should, given all common perceptions of the demographic, have known better.)

exit
exit on December 26, 2006 at 10:43 am

I sat at a packed screening in a tight little 200 seat box with a friend and a huge bucket of popcorn. On the way out after the movie, the lady sitting right next to us looked surprised when she saw the empty popcorn bucket. “You ate all that popcorn?” she asked? “I didn’t hear a thing. She was RIGHT next to me.

It IS possible, alll you have to do is close your mouth before you chew. I’m always amazed at the way some people eat popcorn… some grab a huge handful and tilt their head back like a Pez dispenser and just push it into their mouths, biting into it a few times before they get it all in. The way some people eat is just DESIGNED to make noise. I suppose it’s all the way we were brought up, or how self aware one is, but I have to tell you, they way I do it, the stuff tastes better and lasts longer.

I think the trailer is brilliant. Problem is, many people will think it’s funny and have no idea that they are the ones it is aimed at. I would have directly shown the offending behavior. By the way, check out a vintage MGM short named MOVIE PESTS by Pete Smith. It’s been a problem for years, but the annoyance in that old short is very tame by today’s non-existant standards.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on December 26, 2006 at 2:23 pm

Some people eat popcorn as a snack and others feed on it as if they were farm animals. This is not really a theatre issue.

Schmadrian, are you really Stewie from Family Guy?

Al

schmadrian
schmadrian on December 27, 2006 at 5:27 am

Al, thanks for making me howl. (Although a pal opines that I’m more a ‘Brian’…)

I posted this PSA simply because I found it bizarre…and mis-guided…for a film company to be including in their lecture of cinema-goers, a reference to something the cinema-owners depend on for their revenue! Let’s be honest here; if cinemas could find a way, they’d have everyone buying a ticket to a show, purchasing popcorn, a drink, candy, the whole shebang! That would be their ‘dream situation’. So for Disney to produce a PSA effectively torpedoing the notion of popcorn-eating as ‘acceptable behaviour’… Well, I’m still shaking my head.

I would love to hear what someone from a cinema-owners' organization would have to say about it.

exit
exit on December 27, 2006 at 11:16 am

It doesn’t say “Don’t buy any popcorn.” It says “Be considerate enough not to make unnecessary noise with it.” Noisy eaters are a very common annoyance in a theatre. Nothing wrong with pointing that out, it’s about time someone did. The only problem is people who make noise when they eat don’t realize that there is a better way. I think the idea is long overdue, and i’m glad they included noisy eaters, I just would have done it differently by showing the actual behavior and how to modify it.

There is no way this is going to have any effect on popcorn sales. For one thing, it’s going to immediately precede the feature, and by that time everyone who is going to buy snacks has already bought them and sat down.

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