It’s a common situation: a Hollywood blockbuster, panned by critics, racks up huge box office sales while a critical darling struggles to find an audience. But is this disparity the result of the considerable marketing and promotional backing these blockbusters, or do average moviegoers simply have bad taste?
According to research by Professor Morris Holbrook, the answer is the former. In a study featured in Ideas at Work, Holbrook compared the opinions of professional critics with those of regular moviegoers but controlled for market-related phenomena such as advertising, trailers, number of opening screens and promotional appearances by the stars of the film.
Holbrook found that, absent of the influence of marketing and promotional campaigns, moviegoers expressed views similar to those of professional critics. In fact, they were five times more likely to exercise “good taste” than Holbrook suspected.
People will always flock to theaters to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster regardless of what critics have to say, but according to Holbrook, “If you take away the contaminating influence of the marketplace — advertising dollars, promotional budgets and putting a movie on every screen in every shopping mall — you find that people actually do like what’s good.”
For more information on Holbrook’s research, see “A Question of Taste” in Ideas at Work.
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According to research by Professor Morris Holbrook, the answer is the former. In a study featured in Ideas at Work, Holbrook compared the opinions of professional critics with those of regular moviegoers but controlled for market-related phenomena such as advertising, trailers, number of opening screens and promotional appearances by the stars of the film.
Holbrook found that, absent of the influence of marketing and promotional campaigns, moviegoers expressed views similar to those of professional critics. In fact, they were five times more likely to exercise “good taste” than Holbrook suspected.
People will always flock to theaters to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster regardless of what critics have to say, but according to Holbrook, “If you take away the contaminating influence of the marketplace — advertising dollars, promotional budgets and putting a movie on every screen in every shopping mall — you find that people actually do like what’s good.”
For more information on Holbrook’s research, see “A Question of Taste” in Ideas at Work.
More...