The American public is largely undisturbed by the $150 million marketing tie-in between Coca-Cola and Warner Brothers’ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone [Sorcerer’s Stone in the US] – despite concerns about such corporate links with mass entertainment.
So concludes the latest poll by Harris Interactive Sportainment, revealing that 54% of the general US population are aware but not bothered by the fact that a corporate colossus is using the movie to market its wares to children.
Much criticism has recently been heaped by academics, physicians, and social activists upon Harry’s creator J K Rowling, all urging her to block the commercial tie-in
But 42% of the survey sample (10,000 US adults, 18+) appear reconciled to the inevitable – that such associations will become par for the course – while an additional 30% believe they offer consumer benefits, viz the Coca-Cola and Harry Potter partnership for literacy campaign [although this implies that seventy percent are sceptical].
Says Nadine Gelberg, Sportainment executive director at HIS: “It would appear … that organisations tying their entertainment sponsorships to … promoting benefits to communities can fully leverage the sponsorship, not only for the good of the organisation, but sometimes even for the good of the communities in which they operate. And in the process, they can also help boost a film's exposure — and that could mean big bucks at the box office.”
News source: Daily Research News Online
