Archive for the ‘MPAA’ Category
Flo and Lucky: Movie Dogs Take PR Tour
August 29, 2007
Yes, it’s truly the dog days of summer.
Flo and Lucky, the adorable black Labs of the Motion Picture Association of America, are doing the perfect PR tour. A story about them ran on CBS Radio and they were featured sniffing out DVDs in luggage on the NBC morning show (Dan Glickman, head of the MPAA, has the sense to stand back and let the dogs upstage him). The dogs even made the New York Times with their anti-piracy pitch. (BTW, note the horrendous decline of copyediting in the so-called ‘newspaper of record’–the paper claims the dog’s handler, Neil Powell, is from “Newcastle, Northern Island.”) Perhaps it was the IRT terrorists who battled for control of Northern Island?
Yes, Flo and Lucky and the perfect spokesdogs for the MPAA. They’re adorable, and they don’t say anything (or drive drunk, flash their private parts or take drugs not prescribed by their veternarian.) So not only can their PR handlers put words in their mouths, they never have to retract the dumb things they’ve said.
Posted in Flo-and-Lucky, MPAA, NBC-news, New-York-Times, publicity-stunts | No Comments »
Movie Piracy Dogs Strike Again!
August 4, 2007
Who calls August the ‘dog days’ of summer? Flo and Lucky, the black labs of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), have struck again!
Working undercover in Malaysia, “the world’s first dogs trained to sniff optical disks” snagged illegal copies of Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman-3, Transformers, The Simpsons Movie, and Hot Fuzz (apparently a much bigger hit in Southeast Asia than here.) They helped local law enforcement seize DVD replicators capable of cranking out 10 million pirated DVDs a year. Four pirates were also detained.
“They were able to mask the true nature of their operations by masquerading as a factory producing fertilizers. 300 sacks of fertilizer were piled outside the premises in an attempt to camouflage their illegal activities. They were however unable to fool the dogs.”
Yes, something smells here. But it’s not those gleaming black Labs.
Posted in DVD-piracy, Flo-and-Lucky, Hot-Fuzz, MPAA, Pirates-of-the-Caribbean, Simpsons, Transformers, dvd-pirates, piracy | No Comments »
LA Times Finally Catches Up to MMQB
July 8, 2007
On June 15, we published an item on the Motion Picture Academy of America (MPAA) leaving its long-time digs in Encino and moving to the Sherman Oaks Galleria. On Saturday July 7, the LA Times finally caught up, “reporting” the move in a page two business section story.
I developed the MPAA story myself the old-fashioned journalistic way, moving around the city with my eyes open. Seeing “For Rent” signs in the courtyard of the MPAA offices, I contacted a spokesperson (who told me I was the first reporter to call), confirmed the move and published the item.
The Times taking 22 days to run big news on one of Hollywood’s most important organizations is inexcusable.
I don’t hate the mainstream media, or the Times. In fact, I recently won another award writing for the LA Times’ now-slashed magazine, West. But it’s frustrated to see–and try to work in–what the Times’ own Tim Rutten calls “the generalized collapse of confidence by newspapers engendered by print journalism’s passage through an economically wrenching transformation.”
Posted in 60-minutes, Journalism, Los-Angeles-Times, MPAA, business-journalism | No Comments »
MPAA Goes Valley Girl
June 15, 2007
You read it here first; the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is ankling its Encino digs after 20 many years, with the status of the tile fenceposts with images of Spartacus, ET, King Kong, and others as yet unresolved. Big “For Rent” signs festoon the courtyard of the MPAA offices at 15503 Ventura Boulevard.
An MPAA spokesperson confirmed the association is leaving its digs. The 100-person MPAA workforce isn’t going far. Fittingly enough, the motion picture association is moving down the street to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, setting of Valley Girl.
Posted in MPAA, valley-girl | 1 Comment »
April 27, 2007
Even though the first Spiderman 3 DVDs were fakes, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has a serious issue on its hands. Nine out of every 10 DVDs sold in China is an illegal copy. But MPAA spokesman Dan Glickman isn’t the most charismatic and Jack Valenti has passed on What to do?
Put Flo and Lucky on the case!
Flo and Lucky are the silent spokesdogs of the MPAA, deployed throughout Asia to literally ’sniff out’ pirated movies and games. The heroic dogs, trained to detect polycarbonate, even put a stop to a stash of child pornography. No wonder the pirates of Malaysia have put a bounty on their heads.
You don’t have to believe a word of it. It’s still a brilliant PR gambit by the MPAA, as people care much more about chocolate Labs than camcorder-wielding movie pirates or bloated movie moguls.
Posted in Consumer Electronics, Hollywood Follies, Journalism, MPAA, Public Relations, Spiderman 3, chocolate-Labs, dvd-pirates, heroic-dogs | 3 Comments »