L.A. Times Ends Movie Ad Effort

By DARRELL SATZMAN

Staff Reporter

Those ubiquitous Los Angeles Times advertisements that have entertained and irritated area moviegoers for decades will soon be a thing of the past.

A Times’ ad featuring local special effects house Rhythm & Hues Studios is still running in some theaters, but Martha Goldstein, a spokeswoman for the paper, said the last spot was produced months ago and there were no plans for more.

“You won’t be seeing a new ad in the theaters,” Goldstein said. “As originally conceived, the ads were designed to promote the movie industry. We concluded that we wanted to change our promotional approach.”

The Times was among the first and most aggressive advertisers to produce slick television-style commercials for movie theaters.

Goldstein declined to comment on the Times’ relationship with theaters, but it has acknowledged in the past that it had arrangements with some to run screen ads in exchange for printed listings.

Goldstein said the Times’ deals with the theaters have expired, although some exhibitors have kept running the 6-month-old Rhythm & Hues spot much to the exasperation of frequent moviegoers, as well as the people at L.A.-based Rhythm & Hues.

“It’s been great exposure but we’re thinking of giving (the Times) a call and saying ‘Thank you but that’s probably enough,'” said Rhythm and Hues spokesman Scot Byrd. “We don’t want people to start hissing at the screen.”