Commercial Tie-Ins to Movies (And Why They Present Mixed Messages)

When I went to see The Lorax with a friend (it was either that or The Vow), I was severely disappointed. As an animation fanatic I was impressed by the visuals, but that didn't make up for the lazy writing, choppy three-act structure, and two dimensional characters (yes, I know I'm being very critcial of a children's movie, but it was an adaptation of one of my favourite books so I believe I have the right). It didn't even keep the same "anti-corporate" message of the book - it was expressed very plainly in the movie, but it was the commercial tie-ins that displayed the mixed message. A significant message in The Lorax was that slick advertising can compell people to buy things they don't need, a very modern message and very applicable to children growing up in a world revolving around the media. Except commercial tie-ins with The Lorax for companies like IHOP and Mazda, which exploit The Lorax characters for means of advertising, completely neutralize the plain message of the movie. Using characters from a movie portraying an anti-corporate message to advertise products seems very oxymoronic and presents mixed messages to the viewers. It seems as if the very company that created The Lorax, Illumination Entertainment, is using their own anti-corporate characters to fulfill their own corporate greed. And because of this, viewers are becoming more desensitized to messages in movies because they see them contradicted everywhere in real life.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/13/living/lorax-movie/index.html