Promise, large promise is the soul of advertising. — Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the first comprehensive English dictionary
Blockbuster Video has apparently made promises it can’t keep in its “End of Late Fees” advertising campaign. The marketing campaign is now being challenged in the courts in 47 states, as false and deceptive advertising.
Under this new system, I know from personal experience that even the new releases (with two-day rentals) can be returned late with no late fees, but the problem comes when you return a movie after the new seven-day grace period. Then you are charged the purchase price of the video. Oww. I’ve always said if you’re not careful with Blockbuster, it is more economical to buy a movie than to rent it.
WB Doner & Company of Southfield, Michigan created the advertising campaign. It broke on New Year’s Day this year with huge in-store banners in the almost 5,800 Blockbuster Video stores across the US.
The move engendered dislike on the web almost as soon as the details were announced.* There was outrage, not at the no-fee policy for an extra week, but at the high charges imposed after that.
So my family may not be so far from the typical frequent Blockbuster rental customer. We usually rent four or five movies at at time, and then discover that when the movies are due, we haven’t watched most of them. I call this the All-You-Can-Eat syndrome, as when a buffet eater piles their plate high with foods they just can’t finish. (There is some misguided sense that the extra should be taken because it’s “free,” not fattening, gluttonous or just too damn much.)
I would love to see the amount of Blockbuster profits from late fees alone; I’ll bet it’s substantial.
Update: According to an article on AdAge.com, Blockbuster last week agreed to pay more than $600,000 to settle these claims of false advertising.
After all the dust settles, what should you do? You might want to support the originators of no-late-fee rentals: Netflix. I think their commercials by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners/San Francisco are better, too.
However, having had some clients with some unpopular products to sell, I do feel sympathy for the copywriters and art directors at Doner. After all, which is easier to sell, a Yugo or a Ford?
*Note: here the search bots failed me. It was a well-known technology columnist, possibly Stephen Manes or John Dvorak, who posted an outraged article even before the new Blockbuster plan took effect.
Try Greencinefor even more obscure films than Netflix carries. See a review of DVD rental services here.