November 6th, 2003
Under an Audacious Campaign, the Chatter Before the Movie Starts Might Just Be About a Nissan
By Stuart Elliott
The New York Times
After walking through the fourth wall, the advertiser can begin its pitch. Nissan Motor is planting actors in movie theaters to perform live commercials before the start of showings of “The Matrix Revolutions” in an effort to expose jaded, skeptical consumers to advertising by masking it as something else.
“The moviegoing experience is turning more and more into an infomercial experience,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director for Commercial Alert in Portland, Ore., an organization that fights what its members consider to be the creeping commercialization of American culture. “Moviegoers don’t plunk down $8 or $10 to get hammered by ads.”