Go woke, go broke

[TurkeysGhost]

If you are holding your breath waiting for mass audiences to flock to the art houses, you are going to die for lack of oxygen.

Barbie is a smash hit and, while not art house, is a strange film that seemed to much more heavily rely on practical effects and a more artistic approach to cinematography. There's absolutely an audience for movies made for adults instead of this comic book slop for babies.

In 20 years the Barbie movie will still look good, meanwhile the MCU movies will be many times lapped by improvements in CGI technology and seem dated and ugly.

 

[d4m10n]

Cheap beer relies more on brand loyalty than quality of product.

I think you've hit on important element in explaining the outsized success of the Bud Light boycott. I can taste the difference between Hoegaarden and Blue Moon, but I'm not sure I could tell Bud Light from the other low-cal macrobrews while blindfolded. With so many fungible products on the shelves, brand image and loyalty matter much more than usual. I still don't understand why traditional small-town folk reacted so disproportionately, though, as if AmBev retooled all of its ad buys to appeal exclusively to young women who used to be young men rather than just doing a little side promotional on TikTok. Something something toxic masculinity, I suppose.

 

[lobosrul5]

I think you've hit on important element in explaining the outsized success of the Bud Light boycott. I can taste the difference between Hoegaarden and Blue Moon, but I'm not sure I could tell Bud Light from the other low-cal macrobrews while blindfolded. With so many fungible products on the shelves, brand image and loyalty matter much more than usual. I still don't understand why traditional small-town folk reacted so disproportionately, though, as if AmBev retooled all of its ad buys to appeal exclusively to young women who used to be young men rather than just doing a little side promotional on TikTok. Something something toxic masculinity, I suppose.

Its actually becoming a pretty big worry among marketing people that fewer and fewer people really care about brands when the generic is just as good as the branded label. As if Bud tastes any better than Busch or Keystone. The days of getting a premium price because your commercials have scantily clad women in them may be coming to an end.

I can actually remember one of my HS teachers (the football coach who taught Health) going on about how Busch is from the bottom of the barrel that you get Budweiser from... total BS that people believed in lol

 

[dann]

Barbie is out and she's killing it at the box office. The biggest opening of 2023 surely can't be sustained can it? Well... if Monday and Tuesday are any indication, the movie might just be able to leg it out. But is smashing the patriarchy something that can make money nowadays even after years of failures? We dive into it all with @ArwynAvalon!
Featuring an Article From THR: Elon Musk Mocks ‘Barbie’ as Hit Movie Gets Conservative Backlash (TheHollywoodReporter, July 25, 2023)
Barbie Kills Go Woke Go Broke?! Have Gen Z and Millennial Women Shocked the World with Mattel? (WDW Pro on YouTube, July 27, 2023 - 24:19 min.)

As we already know, the answer to the question appears to be yes. And according to the video, the trend continued after the opening weekend.
I don't think it hurts the film at the box office that Elon Musk doesn't like it.

Even we didn't see this coming -- but one man did. Tom Conners is here to explain to us how he was able to realize that Barbie might just be ablet to completely topple Tom Cruise into obscurity. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One is now dropping to potentially fourth place and becoming the worst franchise performer long-term in the entire run. Has Barbie not only revoked the concept of "Go Woke Go Broke," but also turned action films on their head?!
Barbie Beats Mission Impossible and Turns Tom Cruise into a Flop: How in the World Did this Happen? (WDW Pro on YouTube,, July 27, 2023)

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

The track record of these right wing boycotts is pretty poor, with bud light being a notable exception. The attack on Target only worked because their tactics escalated to harassment and thinly veiled (or not) threats of violence. Less "go woke, go broke" and more that they didn't want some radicalized moron to shoot up one of their stores.

They are a loud, dangerous minority for sure, but they are a small minority. There are lots of conservatives, but only a small portion of them are this kind of exceptionally thin-skinned crybully.

And Bud light was only an exception because of the counter-boycott after InBev caved to the reichwing. That's when sales really started dipping.

 

[d4m10n]

And Bud light was only an exception because of the counter-boycott after InBev caved to the reichwing. That's when sales really started dipping.

This is not a particularly believable claim, given the tendency of Pride Festival goers to prefer microbrews or wines.

 

[Andy_Ross]

This is not a particularly believable claim, given the tendency of Pride Festival goers to prefer microbrews or wines.

Do they?

 

[d4m10n]

Maybe I'm just going to the classy pride festivals...? I'm not saying there is zero Bud Light, but they generally seem have a more sophisticated palate than, say, football fandom or Kid Rock enjoyers.

 

[Orphia Nay]

This is not a particularly believable claim, given the tendency of Pride Festival goers to prefer microbrews or wines.

Haven't you been followed this thread? It was the right-wingers cancelling Bud Light that did the most damage.

 

[d4m10n]

Haven't you been followed this thread? It was the right-wingers cancelling Bud Light that did the most damage.

Agreed. [emoji817]

See #345 for the counterargument, to the effect that it's the pro-LGBTQ2S folks who really did the damage to InBev.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[TurkeysGhost]

And Bud light was only an exception because of the counter-boycott after InBev caved to the reichwing. That's when sales really started dipping.

It's hard to say with any certainty. I would agree that Bud Light's waffling was probably the worst possible response that seems optimized to make pretty much everyone unhappy with them.

 

[dann]

Activist and TikToker Rebekah Jones investigates whether or not the film associated with MAGA known as Sound of Freedom is the subject of an astroturfing campaign. Richard Ojeda breaks it down on Rebel HQ.
MAGA Movie Scheme Gets Exposed By TikToker (Rebel HQ on YouTube, July 28, 2023 - 3:08 min.)

I wonder who's paying for all those empty seats.
I haven't seen any videos of Democrats burning or shooting up Sound of Freedom tickets ...

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I wonder who's paying for all those empty seats.
I haven't seen any videos of Democrats burning or shooting up Sound of Freedom tickets ...

It's not exactly a secret conspiracy. The studio has a "buy someone a ticket" fundraiser on their webpage that claims to have sold 14 million donated tickets.

https://www.angel.com/pay-it-forward/sound-of-freedom?utm_campaign=sound-of-freedom-theatrical&utm_medium=web&utm_source=tickets-footer-ad#

It's not just a movie to these people, it's an important message they feel should be shared with as many people as possible.

Hard to go broke pandering to these morons in this country, there's infinite money to be made from these rubes.

Edit: This does make estimating how many people actually saw this in theatres a bit trickier. Obviously the theaters and the studio doesn't really care whether a ticket is used or not after it's sold.

 

[dann]

But if the movie theatre is sold out but empty, the message isn't really shared.

Everyone from Rep. Matt Gaetz’s wife to Elon Musk has gone out of their way to attack the movie (after rushing to see it opening weekend). The editor in chief of Human Events called the movie “an anti-motherhood, man-hating tangle of daddy issues.” A critic for the Wall Street Journal said the script was “like a grumpier-than-average women’s studies seminar.” For the New York Post, Piers Morgan declared: “If I made a movie that treated women the way Barbie treats men, feminists would want me executed.”
We’re Living in a Two-Barbie System (Slate, July 29, 2023)

1) I thought Matt Gaetz's wife was still playing with Barbies.
2) I haven't watched it yet, but based on the summaries I've heard and read, I get the impression that it criticizes the attitudes and delusions of some men rather than men or masculinity as such. I.e. it doesn't seem to be man-hating but to criticize toxic masculinity as well as toxic femininity, and I don't think feminists would get upset if that was what Piers Morgan attacked in his imaginary movie.

Did any of you guys watch it?

 

[TurkeysGhost]

But if the movie theatre is sold out but empty, the message isn't really shared.



1) I thought Matt Gaetz's wife was still playing with Barbies.
2) I haven't watched it yet, but based on the summaries I've heard and read, I get the impression that it criticizes the attitudes and delusions of some men rather than men or masculinity as such. I.e. it doesn't seem to be man-hating but to criticize toxic masculinity as well as toxic femininity, and I don't think feminists would get upset if that was what Piers Morgan attacked in his imaginary movie.

Did any of you guys watch it?

ya, there's a whole thread about barbie, come on in:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=367461

 

[dann]

Thanks. I hadn't noticed. Now I've just got to watch it.

New app!

The app 'Veebs' has been marketed towards conservatives as a tool that can help them avoid buying products from woke companies. All they do is scan the barcode of a product with the app and it will tell them if the said item was produced by a woke company. Conservatives, however, have expressed concerns about the app when it comes to privacy and pricing—and some are even learning that the app is playing both sides by offering pro-woke options to users.
Conservative Finds Out Right-Wing App that Detects “Woke” Brands is Actually WOKE Itself! (The Humanist Report, Aug 3, 2023)

 

[TheGoldcountry]

Thanks. I hadn't noticed. Now I've just got to watch it.

New app!

It sounds pretty capitalist to me, they should love it.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

It sounds pretty capitalist to me, they should love it.

There is a giant car commercial in the middle of it. I liked the movie, but the GM Blazer product placement was not subtle.

 

[gnome]

I get the impression that it criticizes the attitudes and delusions of some men rather than men or masculinity as such.

The complainers are aware. They just know that pretending it's anti-men or anti-masculinity gets their audience to hop-to, watch more, send money, and vote Republican. And that's just the cynical opportunists. There may well be some that embrace the toxic attitudes and delusions, but they can't say it out loud right now so they frame it as anti-men generally.

 

[lomiller]

Barbie is a smash hit and, while not art house, is a strange film that seemed to much more heavily rely on practical effects and a more artistic approach to cinematography. There's absolutely an audience for movies made for adults instead of this comic book slop for babies.

In 20 years the Barbie movie will still look good, meanwhile the MCU movies will be many times lapped by improvements in CGI technology and seem dated and ugly.

Video games have been having to deal with the uncanny valley for more than a decade. I've no doubt movie CGI is dealing with the same issues so more detailed CGI isn't going to look better, in fact it will probably look worse. I think perhaps the DCU has made this mistake.