Ailing film critic Roger Ebert, inspiration to at least a couple of us here, is now in a very public contract battle with Disney, the distributors of his TV program At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper. Roger and Gene Siskel's family own the trademark THUMBS (Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down) that are used to rate the films reviewed on the show, and when Ebert's contract came up for renewal during his convalescence recently, apparently things turned ugly. According to the film critic, when they couldn't initially come to terms, Disney announced that Ebert had demanded the THUMBS removed from the show, when in fact he'd done nothing of the sort. Why oh why do people (or corporations) think it's OK to just make stuff up in these situations, anyway?
You can read the Associated Press report as well as Roger's response here.
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I know why the do it - it's like trash-talk in sports. They are trying to throw the other party off their game. Make them angry or waste their time correcting things in the media. The first version that hits the media is usually the one that sticks with people, so that kind of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) is effective at shaping public opinion. However it can blow-back badly if the originator is shown to be wrong and that the other party is seen as the underdog.
This stuff seems obvious enough to me, someone largely unschooled. In media relations. It is a gamble that must have seemed reasonable when it was proposed.
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