Harrison's Reports (1945)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: 1270 SIXTH AVENUE Published Weekly by United States $15.00 R««m 1 «1 9 Harrison's Reports, Inc.. U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 ' **««m ioi* Publisher Canada 16.50 New York 20, N. Y. P. S. HARRISON, Editor Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 . „ ,. . _ . _ . rroat Rritain 1K7R A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Australia New" Zealand' Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July 1, 1919 India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 ng Editorja] Policy. No problem Too Big for Its Editorial Circle 7-4622 £t>c a copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXVII SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1945 No. 16 Advertising Tie-Ups in Feature Pictures "One of the most interesting, behind'the'scenes battles waged in Hollywood," states Jimmie Fidler in a recent syndicated column, "receives little publicity. I refer to the constant fight of manufacturers to get their commodities displayed, as prominently as possible, on the screen. "Almost every big advertising agency has a Holly wood representative whose job it is to see that the agency's clients get a maximum amount of such indirect advertising. Several studios have ironclad contracts which oblige them to use certain products in movie-making. One studio employs Cadillacs when a script calls for an expensive story; another studio has a similar deal with Buick. "Manufacturers of electrical home appliances know that the casual display of their products in a hit movie boosts sales phenomenally. Companies manufacturing freshly designed mechanical gadgets of all kinds know that there is no more effective, means of introducing them to the public than placing them in the hands of a movie star. Tourist bureaus and resort owners vie to have pictures filmed in the locales in which they are interested. "Watch the backgrounds and props in the next picture you see. You'll be amazed at the number of 'advertising tie-ups.' " The concealing of advertisements in motion pictures offered as entertainment to the exhibitors and the public is not a new practice. It is an unethical practice against which this paper has fought long and vigorously. Old subscribers will recall the strenuous campaign waged by Harrison's Reports in 1931 when the producer-distributors, faced with diminishing receipts, resorted to screen advertising, both sponsored and concealed, in an effort to bolster their weakened financial structures. This paper felt then (and its opinion has not changed) that the harm done to the exhibitors by concealed advertising in entertainment pictures was incalculable; the picture-going public resented paying an admission price to see an advertisement, and the country's newspapers and national magazines, without whose good-will the motion picture industry would have hard sledding, resented the producerdistributors' intrusion into the advertising field. This paper's campaign against screen advertising was so intense that the nation's leading and most influential newspapers rallied to its support with powerful editorials, which, within a few months, compelled the producer-distributors to abandon that practice. Since then, concealed advertising has cropped up in pictures occasionally, but each time that it did crop up, this paper brought the offense to the attention of the exhibitors. The latest of these offenses occurs in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's, "The Clock." A good part of the action in this picture revolves around its two stars, Judy Garland and Robert Walker, spending the entire night with a Sheffield milk company's driver, who had been kind enough to give them a lift when they missed their last bus. Not only is the name, Sheffield, on the truck kept in plain view of the audience, but the action includes a trip to the company's milk depot, where a large number of their trucks, with the Sheffield name clearly visible, are shown being loaded with milk for the night's deliveries. The young couple spend the night helping the driver deliver the milk, and from time to time other Sheffield trucks appear on the scene. The Sheffield company, which operates in the New York vicinity, is one of the largest milk distributors in the country. True, the picture's locale is New York City, and it may be argued that the use of Sheffield milk trucks does nothing but add realism to the atmosphere. But does it add any values to the entertainment? If anything, it will serve to infuriate many a picture-goer, who will rightfully feel that he had been imposed upon. And an infuriated patron shows his displeasure by staying away from the theatres. Some one at the MGM studio must have been compensated in some form for the advertisement given the Sheffield company in "The Clock." Whether the studio executives know anything about it or not, however, this writer is not in a position to say. Perhaps some smart advertising agent, such as the type Mr. Fidler mentions in his article, was able to sell one of the studio men a bill of goods. But regardless of the means by which the advertising got into the picture, it is bad — bad, not only because the producer uses the exhibitors' screens as billboards without their consent, but also because the public resents it.