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This is unbelievable. Though I suppose it was just a matter of time before the Hollywood moguls figured out a way to get their hands on some of that U.S. goverment bailout money, albeit indirectly. But why in the world are American taxpayers helping foot the bill to promote a big-budget 3-D DreamWorks Animation movie? Well, it appears the reason is because the president of the Jeffrey Katzenberg-led Hollywood animation studio just happens to be Bank of America's former Vice Chairman and CFO.
It took respected media analyst Rich Greenfield of Pali Research to uncover this staggering scheme (registration required). He found out that Bank of America was helping families to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3-D rather than 2-D at no additional cost when it starts playing in theaters on Friday, March 27th. (The promotion is here.) And at the same time helping out the box office grosses of Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation, a publicly traded company.
"Why Bank of America?," Greenfield asks in a report posted this morning. "We have not seen any formal announcement about the Bank of America/[DWA] promotion beyond an increasing number of consumers discussing the promotion link on Twitter. However, we find it odd that a bank that just received $45 bn [billion] in government aid is paying for consumers across the US to see a movie in 3-D vs. 2-D at no extra cost. We also wonder whether the presence of DWA’s President, Lew Coleman, helped DWA convince Bank of America to enter into the promotion, as Coleman is a former Vice Chairman and CFO of Bank of America."
Greenfield found a .pdf for next weekend's Bank of America offer which says it is limited to its customers (credit card, banking, etc). But he also discovered that the online system allows anybody to participate as long as they have an e-mail address. Consumers can receive up to 4 certificates per e-mail address to upgrade from 2-D to 3-D via the online registration form. However, Imax and AMC theaters are excluded from the promo.
"If MvA [Monsters vs Aliens] skews heavily toward 3D tickets due to Bank of America subsidizing the incremental 3-D cost (only valid on opening weekend), we believe the odds are increasing that MvA will outperform our opening weekend box office expectation of $55 mm [million]." Greenfield predicts.
This week, Pali Research calculated that Dreamworks Animation is getting an average 3-D upcharge of $3.18 for Monsters vs. Aliens as opposed to the cost of an average 2-D ticket. "While the 3-D premium was less than DWA management expected, we believe the real driver of the effective premium will be driven by the percentage of attendees who pay to see the movie in 3-D vs. 2-D (as we presume the 2,000 3D screens will be in greater demand than the 5,000+ 2-D screens)," Greenfield writes. "We are increasingly confident that there will be a significantly higher percentage of MvA attendees at 3-D screens, as Bank of America has apparently agreed to fund the incremental cost of a 3-D ticket."
According to Greenfield, the reward certificate provides a $2-$5 value, but he couldn't find a premium above $4.
What's incredible here is that DreamWorks Animation has been spending a fortune to market Monsters vs Aliens. The campaign included a widely seen 3-D tie-in with NBC during the Super Bowl broadcast on that network. I was told that DWA footed $9 million of the cost of that spot what with the cost of the NBC ad, the 3-D glasses, the technology, etc. I wrote back in January that it was a colossal waste of money. Because the movie looked like a mess.
But now it'll be U.S. taxpayers who'll give thumbs up or thumbs down to this deal.
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Bullshit. Why are American CEOs so stupid and greedy? Why can’t they model their ethics after Japanese CEOS? Oh wait, they don’t have any ethics– at all.
Morons.
I WOULDN’T PUT ANYTHING PASSED BANK AMERICA. THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING WITH THE MONEY THEY RECEIVED FROM GOV. BAIL OUTS TO HELP THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WITH THEIR FINANCES. THOSE WHO HAVE LOOST JOBS AND NEEDED HELP KEEPING THEIR HOMES AND WITHT HEIR CREDIT CARD DEBT. THE GOV. NEEDS TO RE-EXAMINE THESE BANKS AND FIANCIAL INSTITUTIONS LIKE THEM. THEY ARE CON-ARTISTS.
The monster is Barney Frank and the alien is Nancy Pelosi… makes sense to me!
Offended my the misuse of your tax dollars?
Bored by brain numbing, uncreative corporate Dreamsney animation?
Solution:
DON’T GO TO THE MOVIE THIS WEEKEND
Let the kids complain, take them instead to Coraline (again)
vote with your $$$$
Sounds to me as though this IS stimulus…. promoting a movie to get people to spend money to go see it. sounds like the economy at work to me.
Just like when Meryl Lynch re-decorated their offices; they had to hire an architect, said architect had to hire a construction company, said construction company had to buy materials (lumber, drywall, etc) and had to hire workers to get the job done.
It seems to me as though a lot of you have no idea how economics really works and seems to think that all this TARP money should be handed out in the form of welfare checks.
When our governemnt gives away money faster than it is being printed, there are going to be oversight issues. The governemnt needs to stop giving away our money….it is not theirs! Less taxes = less governemnt. Our governemnt has gotten too big for their britches.
So all companies that recieved bail-out money should stop promoting? Kind of silly don’t you think? I am sure there is sound marketing advantages to retaining and attracting new customers. The American goverment to a postion in these institutions, I want them to have every advantage in becoming thriving businesses so we get paid back our investment dollars.
You, most of you America-hating Hollywood types voted for Odumbo, so don’t complain about his welfare spendathon/white folk taxathon, okay??
These little things -AIG bonuses, movie tickets etc. – are DISTRACTIONS from the fact that this whole bailout is a scam.
Call EVERY member of Congress on the carpet for the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS in pork contained in these bills.
Revolution!!!!!!!
Poe,
Are you a moron? You think people going to see a movie and spend money on popcorn and soda is stimulating the economy? And meanwhile, small businesses are failing allover because these bailed-out banks won’t lend them money. No one can get a loan for a house, a car, or their business, but who needs money for real items that WILL stimulate job growth when we can go see a movie for free?
Moron!
Cap Hollywood salaries. $20,000,000 per picture and the people behind the camera are starving, can’t afford their mortgages. The stars are just like Wall Street CEOs. They need salary caps and no tax subtrefuge on their “business” deductions.
Stop “business” tax deductions the “stars” use by claiming that their spending on plastic surgery, botox, facials, mani/pedicures, personal trainers, personal chefs are legitimate tax deductions to maintain their looks.
What about the workers behind the scenes who get a pittance in pay compared tothe “stars”.
Won’t even discuss the carbon footprint of these stars who travel in SUVs, Bentleys, Jags and then flit across the world in personal jet travel.
Stop paying attention to Wall Street and starting paying attention to those in Hollywood who can exhorbitant salary and abuse the tax system.
You can call any money that gets poured into the economy “stimulus” no matter where it was poured. If this is stimulus then the executive bonuses are stimulus too, after all they allow executives to spend more money – the economy at work, right?
found the link http://bankofamerica.com/3DonUs
this is crazy.
poe – tarp money is to bailout banks. stimulus money is for welfare. and it sounds like you are endorsing trickle-down economics, which is quite ironic considering your Leader doesn’t believe in the concept. must be desperate at this point?
Why is government so stupid and greedy?
Tarp Smarp I want the upgrade for my kids. how do i get it?
Where does is say that BoA is paying for this promotion, as opposed to hosting it? Usually in these cases the event/venue picks up the ticket differential.
You have to be creative in order to get your share of the stimulus. I make sure I am payed in cash for my work, and I only pay for things in cash. This way, all I pay is sales tax sometimes. I claim practically nothing on my taxes, and qualify for all of the usual social safetynets like welfare, healthcare, and a really sweet refi on my home. I am able to turn my dollars into gold, now is the time to buy gold by the way, because in the coming months, the dollar will be worth about 1/3 less than it is now. If everyone followed these simple examples, they could save themselves thousands. You have to do what the rich do if you want to be rich.
B.
If anyone is a moron it is you. Going to the movies and buying popcorn and drinks does stimulate the economy. These theatres have employees and the have to purchase their supplies. When patrons stay away from the theatres employees lose their jobs and we buys less from our suppliers. Don’t blame the theatres which are small businesses because Hollywood employees idiots.
Please, much ado about nothing. Just because these institutions take bail out money doesn’t mean they need to close up shop. Neither you nor the government nor anyone commenting here is an expert in marketing; thus none of the above should tell Bank of America how to run their business!! Taking gov’t money should not mean that a company has to ask the government or taxpayers what is and isn’t an effective marketing technique — if it did mean that, then gov’t money would be a death sentence because it would destroy a company’s ability to determine the most efficient use of it’s ad dollars. Let BofA run it’s business.
There aren’t hundreds of millions of pork dollars in the bailout, there is hundred of BILLIONS. A figure so staggering its utterly incomprehensible to the human mind.
According to Bloomberg, the total government bill for bailout and stimulus measures is now greater than the total cost (inflation-adjusted into 2009 dollars, no less) of EVERY MAJOR WAR THE US HAS EVER FOUGHT. All combined.
Our great-great-grandchildren will still be struggling to pay off this enormous debt.
I don’t understand the problem. Because a Bank is forced to merge by the Fed, with a failing brokerage firm and needs bailout money for the brokerage business, it is no longer allowed to advertise?
Didn’t banks frequently offer things to their customers to keep them happy, get new customers etc, in the past.
If they can’t advertise and offer promotions, then lose their customers, isn’t it more likely the bank will fail long term?
This class warfare stuff is just getting silly.
This is starting to feel like a witch hunt. Wouldn’t it be kind of really f’ing stupid to give companies money, hoping that will help them survive, but tell them that they can’t advertise their products anymore? Or that the country is going to vote on, ginned up by the hyperbolic press (sorry Nikke), what advertising programs they think are acceptable or not? This is getting really silly.
I love how whenever Drudge links to a site, all the right wingers come out of the woodwork and immediately blame everything on people voting for Obama. Get a life.
Muchas Gracias Bank of Amigo! Now if we can just get those credit cards you had for illegals out to Legal Americans, you know the ones that don’t require credit checks etc, we would all appreciate it.
Talk about a stimulus. I could then go out and spend to the limit of the card and not pay it back. Sure would help the economy!!
For those of you surprised by this, how can you be such idiots? The “bailout” is a fraud. It is 100% earmarks and is going to do NOTHING to stimulate the economy. NO ONE, including Obama even READ the bill!! So for all of you that voted for Obama, that embraced big government, get used to it, this is just the beginning.
So Katzenberg’s nasty little secret is out. As everyone knows Katzenberg has been the only person lobbying theatres to upgrade their equipment to 3D. And now thanks to this partnership with Bank of America, Katzenberg can falsely created demand for 3D where there really is none. The average consumer doesn’t know the difference or even care about 2D vs. 3D. Yet theatre owners don’t have or want to spend the money to upgrade as it’s expensive to upgrade their theatres to 3D. So Katzenberg has found a way to get large amounts of consumers to see his 3D movie and he’s going to turn around the numbers and throw it into the faces of the theatre owners and into the faces of the industry to make it look like we all want and care about 3D. And he’s doing this with our tax money and is getting away with it because of all of the support he’s given to Obama. And to think that Jeffrey went on CNBC and said that his philanthropy was affected by being a Madoff victim. What a joke. In the public’s interest the Security and Exchange Commission, FTC, and other scrutinizing agencies should look into this Bank of America promotion
Oh Jesus Nikki, you really have to stop with your Katzenberg hatefest.
Advertising is part of business and always has been.
Unless I”m mistaken horribly…
wasn’t the money to Bank of America to offset the bad loans they received control of upon buying failing banks as a favor to the government?
That money isn’t a ‘bailout’ it’s just a little bribe to get them to pick up banks nobody else wanted.
Thanks for the info… I finally got some govt cheese and the family will have nice time at the movies!!!
The truth is a little more complicated than you present here, Nikki.
BoA did not way the TARP funds. They went on record saying they didn’t want them. The government brokered BoA taking over some failed institutions and BoA had funds and capital for the assumption, but the government, first under Bush and then under Geithner/Obama, literally FORCED BoA to take the TARP funds and apportion them to handle the merger.
The government responded by telling BoA that the HAD to take the TARP funds or else there would not just be bank-specific legislation passed, there would be direct Congressional oversight and summons into the daily operations in BoA to “make sure they are solid”. In effect, there would have been a trial of BoA in Congress, even though there was no allegation of any wrongdoing or insolvency.
They promised that with TARP funds, at least them BoA’s merger operation would be the only part of the bank operations accountable to the Treasury. Of coourse, after the money is transferred, the government THEN reserved the right to change the terms of the loan funds and regulation process, and another provision so that Congress gets to change the contract at will, after the fact, until 6 months AFTER the TARP funds are repaid.
This was not a case of BoA almost failing and taking the funds just to stay alive.
I still think it is stupid for BoA in this day and age to have anything to do with Media Production or associated marketing – it seems there are a lot more important segments of the economy to tend to.
But the story, as presented, isn’t really the whole story.
When Drudgebots attack. Lovely.
If money is so tight that an extra $3 for 3D makes a difference, maybe people should not be going to the movies at all.
Sounds like creative marketing to me. Government dollars are meant to stimulate: create value for BofA customers and encourage people to go to the movies. I don’t see an issue.
B of A is the bank that refused to give up the needed money to pay employees back wages in a plant that shut down in Chicago a few months ago … B of A epitomizes everything that is wrong with the banking industry …. they are standing in the way of my refinancing my home based on a $13.46 oversite some 2 years ago … burn this bank to the ground and jail its board of directors …
Those trying to make an excuse for this are really sad.
The money is not to STIMULATE a business that would NEVER have GOTTEN money, it is to help the BANKING industry.
This does NOT help lending and extending.
So, while we’re out here trying to feed our children, keep a roof over their heads:
Obama protects the bonuses,
he’s off to be on the Leno show,
Pelosi demands planes that WE pay for like she’s a queen,
Peolosi won’t stop THEMSELVES from taking an automatic 4900 raise from OUR money. . . .
won’t give US a tax break. . . .
Obama brags that giving us 13.00 a week is sooooooooo generous. . .
While we’re going hungry out here. . . . .and losing our homes, our jobs. . . .
Keep it up democrats. Keep it up.
Neal,
Capping salaries is an unamerican as you can get. Can you imagine saying to immagrants coming to our country after they pass lady liberty, “Come to America land of the free, but if you make more than X amount of money we will take it away from you, because you dont deserve that amount.” Please. If you want to live in that world go to Russia or China.
(Power currupts and absolute power currupts absolutely.
Hey Business… Man
The bail out money was intended to solve the CREDIT CRISIS, not for banks to promote themselves. Is it easier for people to get small loans? No. Then BofA should have loaned this money out.
As for you bitching that people shouldn’t be telling BofA how to run its business, because we don’t know how to run a bank. Guess what, buddy, neither does BofA… That’s why the fucking bank needed to be bailed out!
And before you dismiss me as an ignorant hollywood liberal…. I grew up a Reagan republican and now am independent because the GOP no longer stands for what the Gipper did.
The DreamWorks gang strikes again! Universal, Paramout, Reliance and now Taxpayer! Life is easier spending other people’s money.
I would have thought Bernie Madoff taught them some humility.
“Sounds to me as though this IS stimulus…. promoting a movie to get people to spend money to go see it. sounds like the economy at work to me.”
Damned right, and when “stimulus” cash is handed out to people to break as many windows as they can just think of all those glazers who get “stimulated”
Economy = Freedom.
When someone takes your cash to give to someone else that used to be called theft; now it’s “stimulas” and Americans “educated” by government unions are now too stupid to understand the difference.
It would be one thing if participating theatres gave out “upgrade” passes to B Of A at no cost to the latter to in turn give them out to customers.
Especially in contests, businesses furnishing prizes often give them out to the contest organizers at no charge in exchange for “promotional consideration”.
But if B Of A paid for the ticket upgrades, then something’s wrong.
Needs to be on a bumpersticker:
I sold my offspring into debt slavery to Bank Of America for $45 billion and all I got was a lousy coupon for a 3D movie
or
We’re out spending our kids’s (and grandkids’s and greatgrandkids’s) inheritance on 3D movies
Thank to all the politicians past & present and the lobbyists who bought them off.
No one would be upset if the government had not given the money away in the first place. Everyone should be upset with our government!
I love how whenever Drudge links to a site, all the right wingers come out of the woodwork and immediately blame everything on people voting for Obama. Get a life
Or, Judge, perhaps when Drudge links to a site, you finally get to see what a real cross-section of the USA looks like. Try refuting facts with facts and not BS, for a change! We are here to present INTELLIGENT arguments.
This fits in perfectly with the temper of the times. Bread and circuses, indeed.
The point of the bailout is for that money to be used for the business to restructure itself to bring itself out of a troubled state. I think there should be some stipulations on how that money is used, essentially to restructure the business to make it solvent and viable again, not to pay out bonuses like in the case of AIG.
As for the issue at hand in this article if you read carefully it says “It took respected media analyst Rich Greenfield of Pali Research to uncover this staggering scheme (registration required). He found out that Bank of America was helping families to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3-D rather than 2-D at no additional cost when it starts playing in theaters on Friday, March 27th.” No additional cost. In other words they are being upgraded from 2d to 3d at no cost. This would be a stimulus because it is encouraging people to spend money to see the movie by waving a free upgrade in front of their noses. Yes there were inside connections to this deal, but nothing illegal happened here. Articles like this are a witch hunt and are contributing to this mob mentality that is asking us to listen to our emotions rather than the rule of law and logic. If we are going to get out of this there must be calm, there must be order, bad businesses should be held accountable, but so should the members of Congress that are making this worse by encouraging this overloading of emotion over logic on both sides of the aisle.
The large Bank of America branch in Times Square in New York City has a big billboard for the movie above the branch which advertises the deal.
I agree with Kim and Poe. Consumer spending IS consumer spending whether it’s at movie theaters or elsewhere. And B, consumer spending is not trickle down economics you brain-washed fool.
And for all of you bitching about the bail-out, then tell me – what would you do to stimulate the economy? Please enlighten us with your wisdom.
Thanks! Since I’m not a customer of B and A, I will definitely NOT take my kids to see and pay full price. I was going to take them but now I won’t since all B of A customers will get vouchers to see it. I’ll wait til it’s out and in Redboxes to rent for $1 to see it.
The bailout is a joke. All of the companies receiving money is spending it on whatever they want and there is nothing we can do about it. They just passed a bill stating that anyone receiving over 5 billion dollars can not give out bonuses, well if they received any money they should not give out bonuses. Until us AMERICAN’s do something it will not end. I am personally going to contribute to the mess we are all paying for by not paying the mortgage. I am paying for so many others on top of mine and I am tired of doing it. If more people do it than maybe they will stop spending our money.
Whether this is stimulus or not, doesn’t this argue against ever having the government bail out any company for any reason? And does this not also argue against passing large “stimulus” bills that no one had the opportunity to read based on the argument: “If we don’t do this right now, we’re all going to die so, shut up and vote!”?
Yes, consumers going to the movies stimulates the economy. BUT the factor here is not that there isn’t any MvA movie, there is. It’s already made and ready to go. The problem is that DWA and the studio feels that the 2D isn’t good enough, and they want the government to pay for the 3D technology in the theaters. WTF? Studios are paying high salaries, have private jets and are running the PR Hollywood machine on champagne budgets. Yet they want the government to pay for the MvA 3D? If the studio cannot afford to implement the technology themselves, then people will have to be satisfied with 2D. 3D isn’t necessary to see the movie. DWA and BofA are doing BS.
Just goes to prove that the better plan to boost the economy and SAVE billions-trillions of taxpayer debt
…would have been to give every LEGAL USA CITIZEN
$1,000,000.00 instead of what was done.
We as private citizens…could have paid off personal debts…bought new cars…bought new homes… etc… etc… even invested…rather than what took place…
It will never happen because the ‘base’ of havenots will have dwindled so much that some ‘entitlements’ would no longer be needed…and certain political campaign platforms would have no substance any longer.
Wishful thoughts…
This article isn’t thinking very deep. I’m thinking BoA stands to benefit from promotional items, toys, clothes and other consumables that they’re counting on kids to demand after they see the movie.
But if there’s no action figure line released as a result of this movie, you’re right; this is probably crooked and stupid.
Good grief!!!! Wasn’t the bailout to help with all their bad loans and to be there so that they could make more loans?
Are they loaning this money to Dreamworks? And if so and if the movie tanks, who pays that money back and when?
I feel like I’m watching a shell game and the American people are the pea.
I don’t know about any of the political aspects, but I can tell you all this: 3d is the absolute future of the entertainment industry. I don’t have any kind of “3d business”, so I am not pushing anything here, but I am a 3d enthusiast and experimented for many years. For me it is already puzzling, how come the 3d concept didn’t explode into a huge popularity during the 90’s, when the faster computers were already able to display spectacular 3d. IMAX lead the 3d on the movie screens (it doesn’t need an IMAX sized screen). Anyone who hasn’t seen 3d yet, there is no way to describe it. Anyone who have seen lousy red-green glass 3d, have no idea how the real thing looks like (other technologies). In any event, watch out, because 3d is coming, to the movie theaters, to our computers, to everywhere. Remember my words
Agree completely with mark’s comment about the class warfare getting out of control. Those with legitimate issues are getting drowned out by the mad mob.
Paying out bonuses is illogical: companies go under all the time with talented people who were doing THEIR job well, and yet get no help. When the ship goes down, everyone drowns, even the 4-star cook.
Paying out for marketing activities is logical: as has been pointed out by others, it keeps you in business by satisfying existing customers and gaining new ones. And Bank of America no doubt holds substantial investments in Dreamworks — the few bucks spent on getting people to see the money could protect the health of the investment … which would ultimately contribute to their ability to repay any government loans.
Besides, with the huge sums of government money sloshing around in the coming months, there will be lots of examples of activities that were “supported with your money”……. isn’t that exactly the point? Or is someone going to shriek every time a dollar actually gets used instead of sitting powerless in savings?
Just because a media analyst can calculate the ROI on a marketing activity does not make him an economist.
“Poe,
Are you a moron? You think people going to see a movie and spend money on popcorn and soda is stimulating the economy? And meanwhile, small businesses are failing allover because these bailed-out banks won’t lend them money. No one can get a loan for a house, a car, or their business, but who needs money for real items that WILL stimulate job growth when we can go see a movie for free?
Moron!”
And if they DON’T go see movies and DON’T buy popcorn? What happens? Hmmm… theater chains DON’T make money and Prod Cos DON’T make money either.
Pull your head out.
By the way — I didn’t vote for The Messiah. But I grow weary of every move by every bank or corporation being demonized. This entire bailout is a giant welfare check and never should have been passed to begin with. But now that it has with the blessing of the Kool Aid Drinkers, we have to deal with it. And I don’t see B of A joining forces with a studio to promote a movie as a giant “How dare they?!!?!” story.
It’s just a distraction from the real issue, which is that Obama is the least qualified President in our nation’s history and the Kool Aid Drinking Left in Hollywood and the mainstream media is trying to cover it up (since they endorsed the fraud so heavily) by blaming everybody EXCEPT Obama and his cadre of incompetents who put this bogus stimulus/bail out BS together to begin with.
Take AIG — the Obama Admin/Dems specifically wrote into the bill that bonuses for CEO’s were A-OK! And now they claim ignorance and horror?
Puhlease…
Good grief. This is maddening.
Wasn’t the money for covering the bad assets?
I’m beginning to feel like I’m watching a shell game and the American people are the pea.
Oh really? No one can get a loan? I’m a banker and I can’t write them fast enough for QUALIFIED buyers. It doesn’t take much to be qualified either. Quit espousing rederick and do some real research.
B…
You said
“Are you a moron? You think people going to see a movie and spend money on popcorn and soda is stimulating the economy? And meanwhile, small businesses are failing allover because these bailed-out banks won’t lend them money. No one can get a loan for a house, a car, or their business”
My question is are YOU a moron?
FYI, I’ve got a FICA score of 689. Not bad, but not great either. I’ve got about $8k in the bank in savings. I had no problems at all getting a FHA mortgage on a 2400+ sq foot house (built in 2001) that I will be closing on within the next 22 days.
Banks are more than happy to lend money. Don’t know where you got the idea that they won’t, but clearly it wasn’t from talking to any actual banks. I actually talked to a bank, they loaned me money, no problem.
As a taxpayer, obviously I can’t be trusted to pick what movie I choose to spend my money on. Instead, the government is going to tax me, give it to a Bank (becasue they are failing) who will then inturn give it BACK to me ONLY if I see what they want me to see.
The American Taxpayer is a slave to the government. We jump through hoops just to get back a portion of our own money.
Republican/Democrats/it doesn’t matter. All they want is your money. Had enough?
Lenny,
I don’t know if you know this, but this isn’t a witch hunt. A witch hunt is if somebody was unfairly accused of doing something wrong. The anti-communism hearings in the 1950’s were witch hunts.
Bank of America deserves scrunity because they got taxpayer money in the form of TARP bailout payments. In turn, Bank of America, already in hot water for purchasing Merrill Lynch and giving their executives taxpayer funded bonuses for selling out to them, and other TARP bailed out banks were supposed to make loans to the American people in a effort to jump start the economy.
Instead, BoA gives taxpayer money to Obama buddy Jeffrey Katzenberg to promote the launch of the latest Dreamworks franchise in “Monsters vs Aliens.” They decide to promote the film during the Super Bowl and buy $9 million worth of advertising with taxpayer money.
The only problem is that NBC wants in on the action so they spend an untold sum of taxpayer money on the 3-D episode of “Chuck.” Since this is a 3-D event, tons of your taxpayer dollars have been spent to promote both the Super Bowl ad and “Chuck” episode, in the weeks leading up to the event. However, to have a true 3-D event on television, you need special 3-D glasses, and I am willing to bet my life that the 3-D glasses were made in China with your taxpayer dollars. Finally, this movie is being promoted by BoA where the user would get a ticket to watch the movie in 3-D, and paid for with your taxpayer dollars.
All I want is $2,000 of my taxpayer money to go back into my account via the IRS, and I can make that money stretch for months. Yet, Bank of America, NBC, and Dreamworks use my and your taxpayer money to fund a string of promotions tied to a movie that might suck, and includes a low rated TV show that is only included because you have to use the 3-D glasses to view that low rated TV show just like you used them to view the movie ad. After all this, you Lenny, have the nerve to say that this is a witch hunt? Millions of Americans want to know and have a right to know where our tax dollars are going. If my tax dollars are being used to fund the building of a new bridge to replace one that is on the verge of failure, I would be ok with that But if my tax dollars are being used to pay bonuses of a bailed out firm or promote a movie, I have the right to be upset.
As for viewing options this weekend, go see The International in theaters, and if they don’t have it, demand that the theater manager bring back the film.
From May 2008 through April 2009, Bank Of America has offered free tickets to its credit card customers to attend museums on the first full weekend of each month. I only learned of it last month when I visited a museum website, and have not taken advantage of it–if the bank told me about the promotion, I missed it. This movie offer just sounds like another promotion: a perk offered by the bank to its customers, which may attract additional customers or help retain the ones it has. I don’t see a problem with it.
This is truly an outrage. An enexcuable outrage.
That Bank of America should provide 3D glasses so patrons can see “Monsters vs. Aliens” as opposed to the (probably) superior “Coraline” is shameful.
Usually I’m amused by the righties spewing their vitriol here (okay, I still am). But the lefties seem determined to remind me that the extremes at both ends of the spectrum sound like out of touch crackpots.
It’s a promotional campaign. It’s like writing an article “exposing” BofA’s wasteful advertising budget. Isn’t the whole point of the bailout to keep these businesses in business? Promotional advertising has been around forever. Scandal, scheming, and sinister subterfuge about a movie tix promotion? Sorry, there’s not “there” there.
And hey, anythingfor3D? I’ve seen some low opinions about “average” Americans before, but I’m pretty sure most consumers are aware of the difference between 2D and 3D. I’ve even attended some recent 3D releases (not from DWA, shockingly enough) and didn’t see a single person in the audience going “What’s wrong with the picture? And what the hell are these glasses for? What’s with this newfangled 3D communist voodoo?” They kicked back and enjoyed a process that’s been familiar to every person in the country for the last 50-odd years.
I feel better about Bank of America jacking up the APR on my credit card last year knowing that the fees are going to a worthy cause. It’s win-win for the tin-cup waiving Jeffrey Katzenberg and the extra-dimension deprived youngsters.
This is just not a smart post, at all. The banks were given money to keep running their businesses. That’s what this is. They need customers. This is a way to get customers to associate them with something nice/family oriented, rather than scary thoughts about bank failures, and probably pretty cheap compared to mass-marketing costs.
Are you going to start scrutinizing whether individual ad buys are worthwhile? Whether they should buy green plants for the local branches? Stupid. Witch hunt is right.
Are not BOA customers tax payers? At least they are getting some return on their forced investment in BOA. The rest of us continue to be bled dry on a daily basis. Bailout I (Bailout II contemplated), Stimulus I (Stimulus II contemplated), Omnibus, the impending Tax Energy (Cap & Trade)bill ad naseum. Soon, being able to go to the movies will be remembered as a thing we took for granted if the governmental hemorraghing doesn’t come to a screeching halt. This is a trifling item compared to the stomping the American people (and their rights) are taking right now.
The coming revolution is inevitable.
I would have let them all fail – greedy stupid businesses deserve failure. Stupid people buying more house than they can afford on ‘interest only’ and other loan gimmicks don’t deserve house – make ‘em rent. People who think that being born entitles them to be fed, clothed, and housed at everyone else’s expense deserve to go hungry, who think that they shouldn’t have to be responsible for their own health care deserve sickness. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be shut down and their last 3 or 4 CEO, along with their congressional cronies should all go to jail.
Big Brother has arrived, he’s a Democrat…
To All you who Think BofA’s trick is OK:
It is not “just business.” It’s more as if you loaned somebody money because they said they needed it to save their house from foreclosure and they spent it on something entirely different.
Remember that Congress allocated the money for a specific purpose. The money was to keep the banks solvent and repair the damage of sub prime loans. We are told we are in this mess because banks either don’t have money to loan or they are in trouble because of bad loans and low assets. At least that is the story this week. However, we gave them huge amounts of money – gigantic amounts of money – on the pretext that this was the “worst ever” crisis and the banks needed the money to survive.
Instead, sums are being spent for marketing of films and products, not the survival oriented tasks we were told were the purpose. If I want to invest in DreamWorks or BankofAmerica and give a thumbs up to their marketing practices and a boost to their films I will buy their stock. But don’t pick my pocket for an alleged “crisis” that demands money for a specific purpose and then allow the recipient to spend money that should come from its own revenues.
The government takes $100 from me, keeps $50 and gives $50 to the bank who hordes $49 (or pays out bonuses which will now get taxed at 90% and go back to the government). The $1 goes to me to upgrade from 2D to 3D for a crappy movie, which would have cost me $1, but instead costs me $99. I buy a $3 soda pop. This stimulates the economy how? It doesn’t, which is why fascist economies have failed and socialist economies have not done so well in history.
Does anyone realize that Bank of America was FORCED to take that bailout money? And it was not given to them, they have to pay it back at around 5% interest…
Doesn’t anyone think it the least bit unsavory and unethical that Dreamworks Animation president Lew Coleman is a former BOA vice chairman?
Isn’t the promotion a conflict of interest or a machination akin to insider trading or some such sh*t?
It makes me want to shower, and I’m a flaming social liberal (gay marriage! legalize pot! and like that). And before the conservatives jump down my throat, no, I didn’t vote for Obama because I know what happened at my Dem caucus in NV and at Dem caucuses around the country. It was so heinous, that after 35 years as a loyal, active Dem, I’m now a registered nonpartisan.
But I digress. This stinks, and I think the argument that it stims the econ is specious. If it increases the number of people who were going to see the flick anyway in 2D, it won’t be by much, and it’s a one-shot deal. Yeah, that’ll save a whole lotta jobs.
WTFU!
I apologize if this is double posted; there’s no “awaiting moderation” message….
“Doesn’t anyone think it the least bit unsavory and unethical that Dreamworks Animation president Lew Coleman is a former BOA vice chairman?
Isn’t the promotion a conflict of interest or a machination akin to insider trading or some such sh*t?
It makes me want to shower, and I’m a flaming social liberal (gay marriage! legalize pot! and like that). And before the conservatives jump down my throat, no, I didn’t vote for Obama because I know what happened at my Dem caucus in NV and at Dem caucuses around the country. It was so heinous, that after 35 years as a loyal, active Dem, I’m now a registered nonpartisan.
But I digress. This stinks, and I think the argument that it stims the econ is specious. If it increases the number of people who were going to see the flick anyway in 2D, it won’t be by much, and it’s a one-shot deal. Yeah, that’ll save a whole lotta jobs.
WTFU!”
Thanks for the tip, Nikki. I’ll print out four promos, take my family to the movies, and help stimulate the economy.
Of course, you do not have to be a BofA account holder to get these coupons(4 per request).
There is rumor that if you use your AIG work email to register, as a bonus you’ll also receive a coupon which entitles you to take all the cash from the other patrons’ BofA accounts and deposit into your own.
All you people complaining about the stimulus? How about all the stimulus bush and cheney gave to their war machine and military industrial complex. At least this money will be useful for kids and everyday folks and get them to spending a little bit instead of hiding it under pillows while the economy spirals down down down. Obama is 20X the President that Bush ever was.
Ok, so a former VP of BofA orchestrates a deal with his former colleagues to get them to make one of many marketing decisions they make all the time. He benefits and BofA benefits as they get a creative method for marketing their product. What a great way to market to families when they see their 3D glasses with the BofA logo written all over it. It really doesn’t seem that crazy even with BofA getting TARP funding to beef up their balance sheet. BofA still needs to attract customers and that means they’ll spend marketing dollars (albeit the budgets are trimmed back no doubt).
I hate TARP, but at this point its a necessary evil. Lets not turn around and make it worse by telling TARP recipients everything they must do like telling BofA they can’t market their customers as they see fit. I am sure they thought hard about this marketing opportunity & its costs. I am really curious what the ROI on normal marketing campaigns similar to this amount to. Perhaps if we saw the numbers we wouldn’t be so quick to point figures. Its not like the movie was subsidized, it was a set of 3D glasses for those that spent the time to register with BofA for the glasses. In a day when information is priceless, imagine how many marketing impressions BofA gets to make now with all of that personal address information they undoubtedly collected. Smart marketing if you ask me.
We definitely should watch where our TARP money is going, but this business transaction is not one to criticize in my opinion.
- Jason
“Odumbo” TJ? Are you serious? Man, you right wingers are truly pathetic. As someone who voted for Obama, I’m not offended, just embarrassed by your attempts at being creative.
I sure hope the media is tracking all of this, so they can remind everyone at the beginning of the next election. Whoops forget it the media is in love with these theives
Here comes the wingnuts again!
Whoo-hoo! Got my upgrades! I love 3-D. Thanks for the tip, Nikke.
Let the market work. It either survives or dies.If we start giving money to every company that goes under, nothing will ever get done. Witness the old Soviet Union.
Having seen MvA in 3D at a prerelease screening that I’m not supposed to talk about, and despite not really liking DWA’s character design or cultural reference punch-ups, I did like the movie far more than I expected to do, and think it’s going to do very well at the BO.
BofA are scum, though. I miss Security Pacific.
Another story linked by Drudge, another bombardment by right-wing lunatics in the talkback.
Why am I not surprised?
People linking this to the stimlus are morons – a promotion like this takes up to a year to put together and certinally more than 6 months. This was in the works and budgeted for before they received any TARP money.
So what’s the beef? BofA is doing right. They’re investing and providing stimulus, jobs, economic flow. What did you expect any business to do? Give it away as handouts? The big bailout right now is baloney, but at least it goes out in the form of a LOAN. BofA lends and buys promotionals. What could be wrong about that? That’s what they are supposed to do.
Someone even complained about this and then claimed BofA wasn’t lending for home purchases. What a load of Barbra Streisand! BofA is lending if you have good credit and the normal things to back up a loan. It was the Barney Frank/Cris Dodd show that got us into this mess with giving loans to people who couldn’t make the payments. The government wants BofA to take over Meryl Lynch. Then they tried to stiff BofA with paper that wasn’t initially exposed. Don’t blame BofA for going after them over it. You cry babies should have went after Frank and Dodd along with Pelosi and Obama, but instead you voted to put them in charge. The fox is now guarding the hen house and you cry foul. Take a good long look in the mirror.
Ok, so a bunch of ordinary working folks (the people commenting here) want to take control of the means of production (i.e., take over Bank of America and tell it how to run its business). This is a textbook case of Communism, people: workers taking control of the means of production is the definition of Communism. You are all Communists. Don’t tell other people how to run their companies, since it is none of your business. It doesn’t matter that the government lent Bank of America money, because the government FORCED Bank of America and all the other major banks to accept the loans, whether they wanted to or not. THAT was the mistake. We should not compound that error by further nationalizing the banking sector. If we interfere in Bank of America’s business decisions, it will become less profitable and less likely to be able to return the money the government loaned to it. So if we as taxpayers REALLY want our money back, we should just let Bank of America and all the other banks do whatever they need to do to become profitable, and not try to sabotage any of their business plans. Do not fall prey to Marxist ideology, which has already permeated our culture. The United States is the only wealthy industrialized nation that is not already socialist, but it does not look like our system of capitalism will last much longer if it has so few defenders.
Ha Ha, We already have the ’special’ glasses from when we saw BOLT in 3d. We are gonna buy the 2d tix and walk into the 3d screening. As for Bank of Amerika, we avoid it like the plague it is and patronize our local credit union.
52% of the current Congress were members in 2000 when legislation was passed which opened the doors for the Enron, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG crises and incredibly 46% were members in 1997 when Congress pushed Freddie Mac to launch the securities market for subprime loans.
As the purveyors of pay-to-play governance and architects of the America’s economic collapse, Obama cannot trust or rely on Congress to bring about America’s economic recovery. He’s talked the talk of bringing change, it’s time he walks the walk.
Obama needs to look to American ingenuity for economic recovery ideas – ideas such as Steve Forbes’ suggestion that the Federal Reserve should buy mortgage-backed securities, and to reinforce government’s traditional marketplace role as referee and not as the dominate player.
And if American’s cannot be bothered to vote the thieves out on a regular basis, it’s time for a constitutional amendment to limit Congressional terms not more than eighteen (18) years.
Cheapdaddy are you kidding me. I hope you never come into my theatre. Stealing the glasses and messing up my attendance would get you kicked out and if caught taking my glasses charged with theft. Those glasses cost the theatres $30.00 each and we have to add to payroll just to keep people like you from stealing them.
It seems to me that all these so called greedy banks and CEO’s are merely following the lead of our government and redistributing this money as stimulus. Workers at AIG who get bonuses are no different than ordinary citizens who get rebate checks from the government in the form of stimulus. By the administration’s logic, they are both stimulating the economy. These banks who are giving free upgrades to see a movie are stimulating the movie company, as well as the theaters who are showing the movie. We should be no more outraged at these people than we are at our own government for how our money gets spent. We are outraged that these companies are spending taxpayer money to give to their friends for their own pet projects. We should be equally outraged at our own government for spending taxpayer money and doing exactly the same thing.
Monsters & Aliens vs Bankruptcy, time to boycott the movie!
Poe–if you think that targeting this specific DREAMWORKS film to stimulate the economy actually has anything to do with us, the general people of the U.S., you’re sadly, sadly mistaken. Why not give incentive for us to see ALL movies then? I work in entertainment and if you think that this wasn’t the work of someone in government who’s pals with someone in Hollywood who wants to make sure their movie is a success-you need to seriously wake up. It’s all about money, it’s not about us. It’s sick.
The entire “Stimulus” package is a scam. The best way to stimulate an economy is through effective tax policy. But that would mean that Obama and Congressional Dems wouln’t be able to build their Socialist Utopia as quickly as they want, so this nonsense is what we get.
Socialist Utopia — NOT! Socialism always manages to spread misery around not wealth.
Taxpayer money going to subsidize the difference in 3D ticket price vs 2D ticket price? Are you kidding? Anyone saying this is just advertising or helping to stimulate the economy needs to brush up on their common sense. First off, Katzenberg is betting alot on this movie. They’ve been in a battle to get theater owners to upgrade to 3D Digital projection in theaters for the last year in anticipation for this movie. What this is doing is manifold: One it ensures people (mainly BofA customers) will see the 3D version at no additional cost of the 2D version, courtesy of taxpayers. Two because of this, this will indeed skew the numbers more towards 3D ticket sales. Three, this will give Katzenberg, and any other studio execs the necessary rallying cry to say that 3D is a success, not to mention it will deceitfully increase opening weekend sales in general because the “promotion” is only valid for opening weekend. The reason being that ticket sales on average drop anywhere from 50-90% after opening weekend. This as clear as freshly buffed waxed on the clear coat of a 2009 Bugatti Veyron right out of the production factory, which is what Katzenberg will be buying to reward himself for the success of Monsters vs. Aliens 3D.
To summarize, this isn’t about stimulating the economy, or aiding Bank of America to increase business. This is to ensure that Monsters vs. Aliens 3D will have higher than the below normal 3D ticket sales than it would have otherwise gotten on opening weekend. But more importantly, it will give studio execs the clout to pressure theater owners to upgrade to 3D Digital projection. This scheme cleverly advances Katzenberg’s agenda, plain and simple.
Animation Guru – I got an idea, why don’t you put you in charge of writing checks for B of A and you can decide what can be paid for with taxpayer money. How about pritning of bank marketing material? How about free start checks for new customers? How about paying for lawn service for the bank building? WHere do you draw the line? This is part of the banks marketing budget. It is how they get and retain customers. You are the one who these jokers in charge in WA and let them make the decision to give these companies money. It is the lawmakers you should be mad at. Maybe this movie will make a lot of money for the studio so they can pay you to work on their next movie? Or is profit a bad thing?
I got it figured out.
3D will give you a headache and eyesore. Thus you’ll either visit a doctor, helping the health industry, or buy aspirins, helping the pharmaceuticals.
I do see the tax money at work.
Discounting ticket price is NOT “paying people to see a movie”. Idiotic article.