Will Public Service Ads Play at Movies?

Most Americans are willing to put up with advertising almost anywhere. But there is one place that the majority of Americans simply won’t stand for ads: on the movie screen.

So aware is Walt Disney Co. of this that it won’t even permit its films to be shown at theaters that broadcast commercials before movies. But it is still unclear how consumers will react when the ads shown at the cinema aren’t pitching products, but promoting worthy causes like the environment.

This week, flashy spots for two feisty environmental groups will begin airing at movie theaters in Southern California. These are hardly the first cause-oriented ads to make it to the movies. Groups from the Will Rogers Institute, which promotes health research, to the Partnership for a Drug Free America have tried tapping into the movie crowd for years.

Before feature films begin, movie-goers today are being increasingly exposed to public service announcements, or PSAs--particularly ads promoting environmental action. Several well-meaning groups are even trying to get their messages placed on video cassettes. All of this is testing the willingness of consumers to put up with ads--even socially redeeming spots--at the movies.

“There’s always the possibility that a hostile youth audience will shout down the message,” said Gene Siskel, film critic for the Chicago Tribune and the TV show “At the Movies.” Siskel, himself, has reluctantly appeared in several public service ads shown in Chicago-area theaters. “The trick is, they should always be short, sweet and never more than 30 seconds. That way, they’re over before the audience has time to get ticked off.”

At the heart of the issue is the movie-going experience--and the desire of many people who pay up to $7.50 for a movie ticket to escape their problems. But advertisers and groups with messages to sell have problems too. Movie theaters may be the best place to reach the young and affluent. And messages on the big screen can be more memorable than those aired on TV.

“When you’re sitting there in the dark theater, it’s hard to compare the emotional impact of a piece of 35-millimeter film to anything else,” said Ted Danson, star of the TV show “Cheers” and spokesman for the Santa Monica environmental group American Oceans Campaign. Last week, a spot for American Oceans that he narrates began showing at some area theaters.

“We’ll probably take some knocks,” said Danson. “If theater owners find out that audiences don’t want to sit through it, that’s fine. But being afraid to be wrong is not a good enough reason not to at least try to reach as many people as we can.”

At first, the American Oceans spot looks like the famous beach love scene from the film “Here to Eternity.” But the passion between the two lovers quickly dissolves when a voice from a helicopter flying overhead suddenly warns the couple, “This water is polluted. Please clear the area now.” The ad ends with the message that it’s not to late to “turn the tide.”

The 60-second ad, filmed in Malibu, was created by Lord, Dentsu & Partners/LA. “Unlike most commercials you see in theaters, this ad entertains,” said Lee Kovel, agency chairman.

Similarly, the Earth Communications Office, a group of communications industry activists, sponsors an environmental spot that will begin airing this week in AMC theaters. The upbeat ad features panoramic film footage used as a backdrop to positive environmental messages flashed across the screen. One of the messages notes that recycling saved 600 million trees last year.

Advertising in theaters represents “a phenomenal opportunity for us to reach millions of people,” said Bonnie Reiss, founder of ECO, which is based in Century City at Imagine Films.

The object is to reach people without angering them, explained Steve Hayden, chairman of the BBDO/Los Angeles, the agency that created the ECO spot. “Our hope is to create an ad that is a pleasant enough experience that people in the theater will at least tolerate it.”

But even ads for good causes don’t always get top results at the movies. Two years ago, the Santa Monica-based environmental group Heal the Bay placed membership-promoting ads at theaters in Southern California. “We received several hundred calls,” said Executive Director Adi Liberman, “but we were expecting thousands.”

And for all of its efforts to raise money for health research, the Will Rogers Institute raised just $2 million last year by passing the hat around at movie theaters nationally.

Movie chain executives say they expect no explosion of PSAs. “We have to protect the sanctity of the movie experience,” said Greg Rutkowski, AMC’s vice president of Western operations. Still, AMC has been among the most active in broadcasting environmental PSAs.

Mann Theaters rejects most PSAs and instead asks nonprofit groups to place messages on slides that can be shown before the theater lights dim. A United Artists spokesman said while his firm is “opposed to screen advertising of any kind,” it airs PSAs “from time to time.”

As far as Disney is concerned, PSAs at theaters that show its films are fine. Explained a Disney spokeswoman, “An ad promoting clean air is not the same as an ad hawking Coca-Cola.”

Briefly . . .

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