‘Big Daddy’ Ad Campaign Is Big Turnoff for Some

In response to Greg Crosby’s “Is This Really Any Way to Advertise a Movie?,” (Counterpunch, June 21), I would like him to know that he is not alone. I, too, will avoid seeing the movie because of the advertising.

VICKI TRENTEN

Ventura

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Thank you, Greg Crosby, for taking the time to voice what many others must feel about the increasing vulgarity of public media. The PR types who are guilty of these campaigns must be the people we remember from the sixth grade who were willing to do anything to deface or destroy anything decent or beautiful.

LOU JOHNSON

Long Beach

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Our homeowner association has been vigorously protesting “Big Daddy” billboards in our area. We got one removed that was across the street from the Adat Shalom temple and day school and immediately adjacent to homes in the Westside Village area.

MARIE WALLACE

Los Angeles

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It seems to me that the innocent image of a father perhaps teaching his young son the right way to urinate does not warrant the kind of outcry that Crosby’s article would presume to foster.

When my son was very young and our family went on long motor trips, my son would tell me he had to go “number one.” If there were no public restrooms, I would pull over to the side of the road and tell him to do number one on the right front tire. Most parents would tell you they have done the same thing. No harm, no foul.

By the way, the last time I checked, my son and I were not slobs, skid row winos or mentally ill.

ROBERT DAVID LEIBOWITZ

Victorville

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I wonder what went through the minds of Sony executives who approved this marketing strategy. I also wonder why The Times runs tasteless ads such as this. I have a choice whether to see a film that has a lot of toilet humor. I have less of a choice about seeing the ads in The Times and on billboards along the freeway. Has our sense of public propriety disappeared?

DAVID SADAVA

Pasadena

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Hardly acceptable social behavior, granted, but I believe the larger question is: Are these “Big Daddy” ads appropriate for the film itself, or a fraud to potential viewers? The ads could easily lure gullible moviegoers into attending a film they expect to be tasteless, stupid and gross. Once there, many will be shocked to learn the movie is not that at all. It is sweet, endearing, painfully responsible, delightfully funny and Sandler’s most mature flick to boot. Some joke on them.

JOHN CORCORAN

Calabasas

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I have no problem with what Crosby was saying in his article; in fact, there have been few things in recent memory that have been more discouraging/irritating than driving down the 405 Freeway watching Adam Sandler and son pee on a giant billboard.

But his quote about cynicism didn’t [originate with] Nora Ephron: Lily Tomlin delivered that line (“I worry that no matter how cynical I become, it’s never enough to keep up”) night after night in Jane Wagner’s “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” back in 1985 and 1986. It’s one of the many fantastic quotables the Wagner-Tomlin team has given us over the years, and they deserve the credit.

DARREN GLAUDINI

Long Beach

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Crosby should check out the Who’s early ‘70s release “Who’s Next.” If the “Big Daddy” movie campaign got him mad, the front cover photo on this classic album will really ---- him off!

BENJAMIN KREPACK

Los Angeles