John Nolte at Big Hollywood reports that MSNBC, CNN, and CNBC recently refused to air 15-second paid advertisements for a movie, for “editorial reasons.” Which objectionable piece of Hollywood smut earned this editorial disregard? What slab of cinematic violence, fried in hot sex oil and served with a side order of foul language, was so tasteless that these networks chose to turn up their noses at the producers’ money?
Why, Atlas Shrugged: Part I, of course.
Here’s the ad that didn’t meet the editorial standards of MSNBC, CNN, CNBC:
Granted, there is actually a bit of illicit sex toward the end of the film, but you can’t really tell that from the trailer. In fact, you can’t tell anything from the trailer, because it’s just a logo and some audio of people saying they loved the film.
Did they refuse to sell the ad space because they didn’t like the movie? It wouldn’t take long to sift through the archives and find ads for bad movies that ran on MSNBC, would it?
The advertising blackout from these news networks probably did more damage to Atlas Shrugged than they would have to a big Hollywood release, because the core audience for a film like this would certainly include a large number of news junkies. Targeted advertising is pretty important to a small indie film on a tight budget. There aren’t going to be any Dagny Taggart action figures on sale at Wal-Mart, although perhaps a John Galt Line model railroad set is not out of the question.
Producer Harmon Kaslow said, “This unforeseen censorship effectively puts the brakes on our follow-up marketing efforts where we were trying to reach millions of people unaware of the movie being in theaters now. We are continuing with the theatrical release because we have great word of mouth and awareness for the movie increases daily.”
He and his partner John Aglialoro are determined to continue with their planned trilogy. Ayn Rand’s indomitable heroes would approve.
