as well as trailers that warned movie viewers "who have a heart condition or are easily upset" or "the parent of a young or impressionable child" to leave the theater immediately because of the shocking footage from the film.
Most of the time, these promising titles never delivered. This didn't stop the low-budget movie companies and distributers from upping the ante though. In my opinion, nothing matches the marketing
Most B-Movies market with the same tactics, but for this post I will focus on Chopping Mall; a film I've seen more times than I should have. Unlike most movie trailers you see, there aren't any A-list actors or actresses in this film. Chopping Mall didn't come packaged with this luxury; Lightning Video (US vhs distributor) had to rely on other means to sell their product. Three key persuasive techniques were used in this advertisement. The plain-folks technique, association principle, and myths are exhibited here with intent to make an emotional connection with the audience. This trailer makes an attempt at a plain-folks connection right from the first cut-scene. Just about anyone working a minimum wage job, near the age of the actors, or afraid of homicidal robots could relate to the characters in this movie. The association principle is used with great success here when connecting Chopping Mall with
the excitement of youth, sex, breaking the rules, violence, action, and heroism. Narrative and imagery are used to create a myth in this trailer. Now the elements used here to create the myth aren't enough to make me believe this isn't a horrendously cheesy movie, but they have let me look past the low budget, enjoy the fantasy, and even embrace the tawdry promises of Chopping Mall.
the violence is umm shoc... nevermind
The message in this advertisement is nothing new in movies, specifically in horror movies. The only things that differentiate Chopping Mall from all the other low-budget horror movies at the time, are the mall setting and unique antagonists. My guess is that the target audience for this movie was teens (the majority mall crowd and slasher audience). The aspects of culture shown in this trailer are reflected in the target audience; teens seeking instant gratification. Whether it be from seeing exaggerated gore and violence, sex, or even loitering at the mall. All these desires and curiosities are gratified in one film according to the advertisement for Chopping Mall. This targeting and stereotyping of it's projected audience made the trailer more effective, because even almost twenty years later this advertisement lured me in. The only part I found offensive about the message, is that no where in the movie does any chopping occur.
Seriously though, the title and poster
insinuate something a bit more than is in the movie.
I don't remember a part where one of the robots carry
a bag of dismembered body parts.
I would say the advertisement is definitely memorable, but at the time the movie was originally screened it was doomed to obscurity because of the low budget Chopping Mall was bankrolled with. There was no Google in 1986; so someone couldn't just go on to youtube to watch the trailer. If Chopping Mall wasn't playing in your local theater and the video rental store didn't have it, then you probably would have never heard about it. In this way, the low-budget distributors (Concorde, Lightning Video, and Vestron) made this advertisement far less effective. In this era of the internets and whatnot, the trailer for Chopping Mall works because it's accessible to anyone who can access the internet. How can I say that it works? I've bought three copies of Chopping Mall. My first vhs copy was misplaced; the second copy, a dvd, was borrowed by a friend and never returned; and my third, a vhs with better picture quality than the dvd for some reason, is safely on the shelf in my apartment among many other forgotten classics. which reminds me...
I've been neglecting you for too long final clearance 25 cent Gary Busey vhs.
Til next time
- John
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