After Initial Rejection, a Texas Movie Theater Will Run Atheist Ad

That’s a real nice looking ad. Bravo to DFWCOR! :o) 

I’ve always liked the Angelika in Plano! Dinner at Mexico City Tacos and then a movie in support!

So let me be clear up front I am not defending the refusal of the ad.  In the following paragraphs, I am going to be speculating on how some moviegoers may feel, despite the fact that I think those feelings are more or less indefensible.  So just don’t misunderstand me here….

I can understand a lot more why a movie theater would be afraid to run a pro-atheism (or even pro-secularism) ad than, say, a bus company or a billboard company.  For one thing, your eyes are being directed to the screen.  It’s not like a billboard or a bus ad where you may walk/drive past it and not even see it (I know I for one tune out a lot of that sort of advertising).

Also, you’re not getting on a bus in anticipation of being entertained, you’re getting on a bus so you can go somewhere.  If you see an ad that mildly upsets you, do you now feel like you’ve been cheated because your morning commute wasn’t as enjoyable as you expected for the money you paid for it?  No, that’s silly.  Certainly a commute can be more or less enjoyable, but we don’t commute for enjoyment.

By contrast, you can picture some idiot sitting down to watch a movie with their kids, seeing this ad and getting all pearl-clutchy over it, and them then feeling “cheated” that their family night was ruined.  

Again, I think it’s really crappy that people would get so offended over such an innocuous ad, so don’t think I’m defending that… if something like this is going to ruin their evening, that’s their problem — but then again, it’s also (sort of) the movie theaters problem.

So I can understand.  Sort of.  For something like a billboard, I think the tradeoff between valuing free expression vs. upsetting people who might see the billboard is clear: anybody whose entire day is going to be ruined from seeing a billboard that has an idea which challenges them to think a little bit, well, they can kiss my butt.  But on the other hand, for the theater, this sort of thing could really cause problems for them, especially in Texas.

I don’t sympathize with the potentially-offended people, but I do sympathize with the theater a bit.  I guess that’s all I’m saying.

The solution is to stop running ads. Are those families more offended and upset by the ad than I am by ads for the U.S. Army that glamorize war? I certainly don’t want my kids seeing those ads. Then there are previews for horror movies. I hate horror movies, I find them really upsetting, even ads an previews. While I’ve grown out of it, as a child a T.V. ad for a horror movie would give me nightmares. Yet horror movie trailers are shown before many kinds of movies in theaters. I certainly was upset by them as a child, and while I’m less upset now, I certainly don’t like seeing them. I’ve never complained about these ads and trailers, I understand that they’re part of the cost of doing business, although I’m a bit upset that there is now a long period of ads that runs before the movie but after the advertised start time. 

It seems to me that if a theater is really worried people will be upset by ads, they have a lot more to ban than a mild mannered ad like the one shown here.