Lessons in Public Relations - Part II
TwinCities.com and the New York Times published recent articles about a screening of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
The screening, held in the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota, coincided with a convention of atheists. Both Dr. Richard Dawkins and Dr. PZ Myers, who were interviewed for the film, are devout atheists who were in town for the convention. When they learned the film was to be screened that week, they followed the website instructions to sign up for the screening.
Smart marketing move or PR nightmare?
The timing could be a great PR move - engage the enemy on his own territory by scheduling the screening the week of an atheists’ convention. That could be a brilliant move. Play that up and stir people up to attend in support of standing against evolutionists. Create some controversy and get an audience.
However it may have backfired. Both Dr. Dawkins and Dr. Myers registered on the film’s website and stood in line for the screening. Dr. Myers was pulled out of the line by a security guard and not allowed to see the film.
Both men have already said in published statements they were told the film was to be called “Crossroads,” and be “an examination of religion and science, not a defense of intelligent design.”
After Dr. Myers was expelled from the screening, he immediately wrote about it on his blog Pharyngula.
Creating controversy has recently been a favorite tool of movie marketers, but you have to be careful - it could backfire. In this case, the producer who made the decision to remove Dr. Myers from the screening has come under fire from several fronts. So now the atheist/scientific community is up in arms and talking about it and writing about it.
What do you think? Clever marketing strategy to promote the film? It’s being discussed by many in both camps.
Or is this going to become a public relations nightmare? What are the filmmakers afraid of, that they wouldn’t let one of their interviewees into a screening? Time will tell.
Richard Dawkins crashes the party at a screening of “Expelled”
By JEFFREY OVERSTREET
Published: March 20, 2008
I just received this email report from Looking Closer reader Stuart Blessman. He thought I’d find it interesting, and I certainly do. He also gave me permission to share it with you. So, here’s Stuart’s account:
My name is Stuart Blessman and I’m a student at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities involved with a campus outreach ministry that’s associated with an on campus church, Maranatha Christian Fellowship. Our head pastor was recently offered two pairs of tickets to go see an advanced screening of Ben Stein’s “Expelled”, but had to instead pass the tickets to an associate pastor, who then offered one of them to me. So at 7:00 pm on Thursday my friend Grant and I got to go see the movie. Right away, let me just say that this is the Best Documentary of 2008…if it will get played. The basic premise of the movie is that Intelligent Design should be allowed equal footing as a teachable theory within academia. This movie is not an apology for Creation; pains are taken to distinguish Creation from Intelligent Design. This is also not a movie that bashes Evolutional Theory, although many rational arguments are brought up as to the validity of Evolutionary thought as well as the long-term consequences of an Evolutionary Worldview.
The Associate Producer of the film, Mark Mathis, introduced the film as well as moderated for the quick Q&A following the film. The movie we saw was a rough Director’s Cut; at several moments things appeared to be out of sync, and occasionally archival historical footage appeared to “jump” on the screen. Mathis also mentioned that several music cues might change before the final cut, which is understandable since several high profile songs and artists are used in the film.
The film can best be described as subtly clever and occasionally funny. Emotions are stirred up especially built around the movies overall theme*, and many scenes especially later in the movie might be difficult to watch based on one’s ethnic and religious background.
But enough about the film – the real highlight of the evening occurred after the showing, during the Q&A. Mathis led this discussion, and the second question was asked by a surprise member of the audience: Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion,” and arguably the biggest name in the movie other than Mr. Ben Stein himself. As this screening was by invitation only, Dawkins appearance was quite a surprise to both the audience and Mathis.
http://www.expelledthemovie.com/chronicle.php?article=11
March 24th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
[…] a follow-up to Part II, here’s proof that the folks at Premise Media and Motive Entertainment are excellent students […]
April 18th, 2008 at 4:15 pm