Exhibitors Herald (Jul-Sep 1922)

MARTIN J. QUIGLEY Publisher & Editor * ISSUE OF * August 19. 1922 Exploitation Excesses By MARTIN J. QUIGLEY OCCASIONALLY there appears in this business what seems to be a persistence of the old and badly mistaken idea of the show world that any kind of publicity is good publicity. This is an unfortunate circumstance and should be speedily corrected because motion pictures and the industry itself both have enough to contend with under existing conditions without being burdened with exploitation that becomes a hindrance and a menace. Exploitation, to a very great extent, represents the introduction to the public of the industry's product and being called upon to fulfill such a function it should at all times be of a character that will inspire respect — as well as interest — for the product that is being introduced and for the industry behind the product. The public has come to look upon those evidences of exploitation that come before it as the voice of the industry and if this voice gives expression to blatancy. misleading assertions, the cheap and the tawdry — then the industry and its product cannot help but suffer in the estimation and respect of the public. The industry, for several years, has been calling upon the public to regard it and its pictures as matters of real importance in human affairs. It has driven home argument after argument to the effect that the form of entertainment which it purveys fulfills a necessary and substantial function, that, as Mr. Will H. Hays has put it, the public very likely would "go red" if it were not for the wholesome diversion, inspiration and relaxation afforded in the motion picture theatre. * * * T-TENCE, the industry not only becomes ridicuA A lous but painfully errant to its responsibilities when it descends to cheap, lurid and undignified methods of exploitation. However desperate may be the case of any picture, there can be no excuse for some of the things that are being done in the name of exploitation. Exceptional instances in which that sort of publicity may be cited as having stimulated the box office proves nothing because this is not a one-time business and if we are not building good-will day by day we are not making progress. The herd-like characteristics of the public have received much more than warranted consideration. The public nowhere and in no classification is as dumb as some of the exploitation that is addressed to it would suggest. An important verification of this fact — which already has been carefully noted by close observers in this business — is that the carnival and sideshow school of publicity is actually at this time causing the public to label certain attractions as false alarms which the public is carefully avoiding notwithstanding the fact that exploitation stunts in connection with such attractions are being showered upon them from every angle. * * * A S the matter now stands there is a grave danger of so exploiting a picture with these methods of blatancy and tawdry sensationalism that the public will become alarmed, will sense immediately what is very often the case, that if substantial merit were present these methods would not be present, and will proceed to ignore the attraction. There is another line of thought on exploitation which needs attention. It is grounded in the idea that a receptive attitude toward an attraction can be created even by stunts which in themselves suggest matters which are not pleasant to contemplate. An instance of this is the bringing to a theatre in great numbers orphan children in an effort to stimulate interest in a picture about an orphan child and an asylum. Now, it is not at all difficult to imagine themes of such a character which would afford the basis for many interestcompelling pictures. Literature and the stage afford many examples of orphan stories which have appealed strongly to the public. But when a person goes to a theatre he may be glad to contemplate a heart-interest story about an orphan which is merely a matter of the world of make-believe. We doubt, however, that many persons, on amusement bent, like to be confronted with concrete instances of these little parentless unfortunates in the form of their living presence in and about the theatre.