Whoever you are, this movie is for you!

I'm always amazed at how blatantly movie studios change their marketing strategies to appeal to different audiences. Last night while watching The Bernie Mac Show, I saw an ad for the new movie The Real Cancun. Unlike all the previous ads I'd seen which exclusively feature scenes of white kids partying, drinking and cavorting, this ad last night consisted solely of the two black cast members of the movie. Apparently, the studio thinks they can trick black audiences: Hey if we show two black cast members yelling at each other in our commercial airing during a black TV show, black audiences will think that this is a black movie about black people who go to a black resort in Cancun for spring break! Puh-lease. Just because I watch Bernie Mac it's not like I haven't seen the other 95% of the ads for this movie, which make it clear that non-whites will probably get about 4 minutes of screentime.

The studio behind the movie Holes pulled the same two-faced marketing strategy. In one commercial it was a Goonies-esque romp about a bunch of kids at camp, in another commercial the movie is a supernatural thriller. The Onion even satirized this phenomenon a few months ago with their headline about how Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is being marketed as six different generes. Why do I feel like this story is only half kidding?