We can’t say we blame Fox executives for wanting to keep the “Avatar” money train going with a $2 billion dollar haul at the box office. But the fierce marketing effort by both James Cameron and the studio to present themselves as keen environmentalists is kind of reaching the point of absurdity. We don’t need to mention the planned out double dip of the “Avatar” DVD and BluRay with a bare bones release hitting stores last Earth Day with another extras-laden release planned for the Christmas season. And now, Fox plans to unleash more product tie-ins this fall.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that more “Avatar” “merchandise for the key back-to-school, Halloween and holiday shopping seasons, including costumes, board games and bedding items” is on the way. Hooray. As much as we’d like to believe that these will produced with an eye towards green manufacturing and carbon footprints, the reality is these will probably be coming from various overseas factories whose concern for pollution and regulations might be less stringent than ours.
And really, does anybody need a fucking “Avatar” backpack/pencil case/stocking/pillow? And the majority of this stuff is eventually going to end up in discount bins, garage sales and eventually into landfills. So much for protecting Pandora. We guess we shouldn’t be outraged at Hollywood’s hypocrisy (shock!) but when it comes from a film that built so much of its marketing (and its plot) around its environmental posturing, it just makes us that more cynical. And we bet you thought we couldn’t get any more cynical….
