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Does the movie make the toys or do the toys make the movie?
Commercialism and filmmaking has become as synonymous as peanut butter and jelly. As I discussed last week, the mere exposure effect plays a huge part into why studios are cashing onto any nostalgic property and brand recognition, including toy franchises, to sell us on the next big spectacle. A movie’s marketing campaign could be a movie’s undoing as commercials and toys could reveal crucial plot points or convert the whole film into one big advertisement, thus ruining a perfectly normal movie experience.
So are marketing campaigns or ploys ruining people’s movie experiences and making the whole movie more “toyetic”? Well, before we begin….
WHAT DOES TOYETIC MEAN?: THE PRODUCT OF VALUE
I bet you’re wondering why I used the word “toyetic” or what does it mean? I honestly did not know such a word exists either but here we are.
“Toyetic” describes the potential for a movie to produce merchandising. It is a term reportedly coined by a toy developer named Bernard Loomis from Keener Toys who talked with Steven Spielberg about marketing opportunities for his newest film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
One example of a “toyetic” movie is Star Wars. According to Dale Pollock’s book Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, 20th Century Fox has so little faith in George Lucas’ film, attributed to its disastrous production issues, that they let him keep the merchandising rights.
Today, Star Wars is a merchandise empire, selling billions worth of merchandising such as action figures, video games, and replicas of blasters and lightsabers to kids, young adults and collectors. They even have an sales event called “Force Friday” on the first day of September for new toys.
Actually, you know the most perfect example of a completely toyetic movie? Batman & Robin. Everything about that movie is literally a two-hour toy commercial. While I'm on the topic, I would like to file a “false advertising”complaint against the movie. Poison Ivy claims, “Every Poison Ivy action figures comes complete with [a Bane action figure].” No, they don't! Poison Ivy was never packaged with Bane in any Batman & Robin action figure set!
SHELF LIFE: THE PRICE OF VALUE
Movie studios tend to greenlight the most popular properties and those that made sense for filmmaker’s standpoint…except for The Emoji Movie. Nobody asked for that and it didn’t make sense. Each company has at least one president or CEO to greenlight a movie based on a plan they have, a script they really like, how much revenue the last movie made, or by popular demand.
A lot of these movies that received the greenlight are based on something nostalgic. This year alone has four films based on toy franchises: The Lego Batman Movie, Transformers: The Last Knight, Lego Ninjago Movie, and My Little Pony: The Movie. Just for fun, I decided to take to Google Trends to determine how much audiences responded to these movies as wholesale products.
Now let’s compare that with the toys themselves.
Clearly, The Lego Group does not need to rely on its movies because Lego develops a large variety of different Lego sets and carefully market them towards children and collectors. They have become so popular a brand they almost don’t need commercials to promote it.
Hasbro’s Transformers and My Little Pony brands are sustaining the lives of their toylines through movies and mostly animated television series by constantly creating commercial vehicles for their toy brands. Whereas Transformers would reboot its toyline every two to three years with a new animated series, My Little Pony’s fourth and current incarnation, Friendship is Magic, has been running for seven years now. The animated series became so popular it even formed a fandom among adults.
Hey, don’t look at me. I never watched the show. I just know things.
I’VE SEEN IT IN A MOVIE ONCE: THE PLACE OF VALUE
Movies can even create moments using real-world products.
Transformers partnered with many car companies including Chevrolet. The character of Bumblebee disguises and transforms himself into a yellow Chevrolet Camaro. He upgrade to the next Camaro concept model with every installment in the franchise and the toys do the same. It's almost like they are commercial vehicles, am I right!? I'll stop now.
How a young boy used Reese’s Pieces to allure an friendly alien to his home in Steven Spielberg’s later sci-fi movies, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment actually wanted to use M&Ms, but Mars, Incorporated refused. So they went off-script and used Reese’s Pieces instead.
Then two weeks after E.T.'s initial release, Reese’s sales tripled! Mars must be kicking themselves right now. So then what about today’s movies? As in this year.
Earlier this year, one major setting in Saban’s Power Rangers is a local Krispy Kreme shop. We watch the five titular Teenagers with Attitude are regulars there, their enemy Rita Repulsa eat a Krispy Kreme donut in a commercial shot during the final battle and there’s a giant magic crystal buried underneath it. As you may expect, it got a little excessive.
So why do audiences respond better when E.T. advertised Reese’s Pieces after they saw E.T. but not when Power Rangers and Krispy Kreme's? Simply put, Reese’s Pieces was used sparingly in E.T. and the movie never reminded you about it every twenty minutes.
Audiences became so conformed to generic, fictitious store names that they would roll their eyes when companies do agree to allow their products but take it a step too far. Less is more.
THANKS TRAILER, NOW I’VE SEEN THE MOVIE: THE PROMOTION OF VALUE
Trailers are supposed to have one simple job: Generate interest for a movie. They must reflect the tone, evoke the emotion and inform the audience of a general idea of what the plot really is. However, movies tend to confuse that last point with SPOIL THE WHOLE MOVIE or CONFUSE THE AUDIENCE.
For instance, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 marketed heavily on the new villains and featured more scenes in every trailer. Comic book fans will analyze every shot, casual moviegoers are sick of yet another Spider-Man movie and everyone decides to keep their money.
Yet at the same time, we the audience are asking for more movie trailers and more spoilers and the major movie companies will feed into that. The worst part is that most directors have little control over what scenes goes into the trailers. Fortunately, movie studios like Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios pride in fan theories,
AND NOW WE RETURN TO OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION….
All in all, I think it is safe to say there are right ways and wrong ways to commercialize movies. Product placement can benefit both the movie and the product bring sponsored, but it should not hijack the movie. A movie or a show can tell great stories with toys but it should try resonating with its audience. And trailers should not have to reveal the movie’s secrets in order to sell them to you. Marketing is a powerful tool, it just takes the right power to yield it.
Now I want to know what you guys think. What’s your favorite movie toy? Did a trailer ruin your movie experience? Tell me more in the comment section down below.
Now if you would excuse me, I need to know the best place to buy a talking Porg plush!
WORKS CITED
“Toyetic.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.
Pollock, Dale. Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas. New York: Harmony, 1983. Print.
Batman & Robin. Dir. Joel Schumacher. Perf. Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Clooney. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1997. Film.
“Google Trends.” Google Trends. Google, 04 Oct. 2017. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.
Watercutter, Angela. “Bronies Are Redefining Fandom — And American Manhood.” Wired. Conde Nast, 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.
Biema, David Van. “Life Is Sweet for Jack Dowd as Spielberg’s Hit Film Has E.T. Lovers Picking Up the (Reese’s) Pieces – Vol. 18 No. 4.” PEOPLE.com. Time Inc, 26 July 1982. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.
McCarthy, John. “Excessive Krispy Kreme Product Placement in Power Rangers Fails to Smother Movie Reviews.” The Drum. Carnyx Group Limited, 28 Mar. 2017. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.
McGovern, Joe. “Why Do Trailers Spoil Their Movies? Because You Want Them to.” EW.com. Time Inc, 27 July 2015. Web. 04 Oct. 2017.
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