Spotted in today’s Kompas daily, there was a review of Pintu Terlarang or Forbidden Door, a recently premiered Indonesian movie. Or so it seemed.
Printed in a different typeface from the rest of the articles, away from the regular entertainment section, and with a clearly defined border, it was quite obvious that it was less of a review and more of an advertisement for the movie.
The piece however does not claim to be an actual review as the top of the article actually said “Iklan”, or Advertisement.
This form of honest fake review seems to be gaining traction in the media. I was informed that at least one movie adopted this approach before.
On one hand people get more of an insight into the movie should they choose to read it but as it is an ad, it does not point out any deficiencies the movie may have.
My question is, is it a wise decision to market the movie as such? I would argue that if the movie is as good as my colleagues who were part of the audience say it is, it shouldn’t need such an ad, rather they should promote it in a different way.
Which reminded me, I actually passed on an invitation for the premiere. I’m not much of a horror movie fan. Especially local ones as they have been so disappointing as of late.
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AuliaSays 