the (red) set*

A recent post on Thompson on Hollywood on Variety, that comments on Disney U.K. being caught red handed using IMDB fan comments in newspaper quote ads for the soon to be screened holocaust drama, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, (directed by Mark Herman) is an interesting flip side to some of the posts that have made here on the red set of late….

Variety Deputy editor, Anne Thompson writes:
” U.K. critics are in a tizzy over this and I don’t blame them. One fashionable theory about the younger generation holds that they don’t care what critics and people in authority think, and prefer to hear from their own peers about what is cool. In my researches into young moviegoer behavior, I have determined that while they do learn about movies from browsing on the Internet, many of them also check Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritics to see what the critics think.

It’s one thing to hear WOM from your pals on Facebook and another from complete strangers blogging at IMDB. And this from a culture where newspapers–and critics– are still alive and well!”

A fine balancing act then – juggling social marketing and integrity in this era of tipping points and buzz.

pic: film still from, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas