Spell the name right
I find it very strange that the billboards advertising Apolcalypto still put Mel Gibson’s name on top in big, possessive type. This could mean that Disney thinks America doesn’t care about his anti-Semitic rant. It could be they think that the controversy will sell his tickets, again. It could be that Gibson thinks this is redemption through advertising. Or maybe they saw the sales for Seinfeld after Michael Richard’s racist rant.
Tags: Culture
December 1st, 2006 at 11:41 am
Or, it could be just a contractual obligation.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:46 am
I think there’s also a certain amount of “Well there’s no way we’re going to avoid this so we might as well dive in with both feet” thinking behind this one. At this point there’s really no way Disney could un-associate his name from the movie so better to just go for it and see what happens. Yeah, they’re also hoping the controversy raises interest.
But what else are they going to hook the movie’s campaign on other than Gibson’s name? There are no stars, the plot is about the rampaging of western invaders over a civilization and it’s in Mayan. It’s not like there’s a lot of other choices for the campaign.
All the press for the movie is going to mention Gibson so I think excluding him from the campaign materials would have been essentially useless.
December 1st, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Name-above-title is ALWAYS contractually stipulated. Disney couldn’t take it down if they wanted to without Mel’s consent.
December 2nd, 2006 at 8:23 am
Hopefully it will be Mel Gibson’s HUGE FLOPPO!
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:09 am
Film’s name has ALWAYS been “Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.” Prescient; should’ve been applied to the moment the blues-and-reds came on in his rear-view mirror.