Fifty shades of the same overcoat

So, have you watched it?

You know?

Fifty Shades of Grey.

You can't walk or look anywhere without its mention.

Every website is reviewing it or promoting it.

Every corporate worth its salt (or VERY MUCH NOT worth its salt) is bandwagonning onto it.

But this is all three years old.

Yeah, it's a bit more blatant now its a film. There's also a bit more freedom know it's so well known.

You see, when the books first came out, they were popular. And so people bandwagonned onto them. You had 'suspiciously similar' books out - Sylvia Day released "bared to you" which featured a black and white stiletto; Jodie Ellen Malpas released a trilogy of books which - if you were hard of sight - could easily have looked and probably read the same as the Fifty Shades trilogy. And then there are the parodies - which never last long. Fifty Sheds managed to string it out long enough to fill a book. Just.

But the genre-building/swamping/cash-cowing has never been (if you'll excuse the pun) novel. It's long happened. Remember the years of gritty child-abuse "mis-lit" books slightly parodied by the lovely Sue Townsend in her last Adrian Mole book with the suggestion that mum Pauline might publish "A Child Called Shit".

But this is irrelevant.

Did you know about the film?

The "Record Breaking" film that was writing it's own headlines (because it actually was).

Chances are yes. And chances are you knew about it without any of the multi-millions of pounds they have spent on advertising.

And that, really, is my question.

As the biggest selling book in a long time; and the most hyped-about movie in a long time; why spend anything advertising? Once people know the date that it is out, they WILL go and see it. It was going to get its nearly $250million opening weekend with $0 spent. Why bother?

And the same happened with the Harry Potters. Books and films and DVDs. Anyone that cared already knew. Non-paid, entertainment news sites did all the promotion that was needed.

And I ask from the perspective of someone who could otherwise be a disinterested bystander. Afterall, I only see the adverts as I pass the bus-stop with it plastered in the hording, as the bus with it advertised on the side passes the billboard with it also on. Surely all I should get of it is bored?

Well maybe. Maybe I actually don't mind all these lascivious women funding me.

You see, despite the fact that the movie would easily have made what it has already made with no advertising; what it's extraordinarily unnecessarily excessive promotional budget has done, is line the coffers of people who rely on advertising.

Maybe not the streetside advertisers, who will put up whatever if it pays anything; but the websites. The websites who are otherwise free to visit; but who get paid on banner size; on screen coverage, on page views and viewtimes.

But the people in-house at the distributors; the studios etc. They are the ones who have to pay out for each and every streetside advertisement. OR they could channel that money into - say - their independent film studios. Either publicise a little more widely some of the indie, art-house films to see them make a profit; or fund a few more. Afterall that's what the blockbusters should be about - nurturing and developing the up -and-coming talent; whether by employing them on those blockbusters, or by using those blockbusters to finance them.

But back to advertising spend. We've seen websites become more desperate for advertising spend for two key reasons: more websites; and fewer click-throughs. So online advertisers have become - not innovative, but desperate.

One that really annoyed me the other day was the ITV page. No sooner had I landed on the page than the top half of the page disappeared to a money comparison website. That's half the page disappearing, literally as I'm about to click. And this is on a fully HD display. And this is every time, not specific to that advertiser.

I think my problem with advertising is that it is going down two route: one of excessive and unnecessary - justifying a massive advertising budget because of a sitting audience - or the other route of absolute and pure desperation, irregardless of how much it pisses off your audience or frustrates their experience.