{"id":138,"date":"2005-02-18T10:49:47","date_gmt":"2005-02-18T18:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2005\/02\/inner_libertarian_activate.html"},"modified":"2005-02-18T10:49:47","modified_gmt":"2005-02-18T18:49:47","slug":"inner_libertari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2005\/02\/inner_libertari.html","title":{"rendered":"Inner Libertarian, Activate!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inner libertarian: activate. Form of: a snarky blog post about a proposed City Council bill to force movie theaters to be truthful about when the main feature will begin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It’s the latest horror at the movies: endless ads for everything from ladies’ underwear to perfume to soda.<\/p>\n

But a new City Council bill aims to set moviegoers free with a different kind of advertising – movie listings that reflect when movies actually begin, not the ads and previews before.<\/p>\n

“We can’t outlaw advertising,” said City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), author of the bill. “But at least we can tell the industry that they have to be honest about when their movies start, not their ads.”<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

If passed, Brewer’s bill would require theaters to advertise the “actual start time” of any movie, not when ads and previews begin. Any theater that doesn’t comply could face fines of $500 to $1,000 for each infraction.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the city’s larger theater chains are giving two thumbs down to the idea, saying moviegoers know to expect “pre-feature content” at any movie.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shouldn’t the City Council be more worried about the important issues — resolutions opposing war in Iraq<\/a>, for example?<\/p>\n

Council Member Brewer explains herself:<\/p>\n

“In the scheme of things, it isn’t life or death,” said Brewer. “But people shouldn’t feel used after going to the movies.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the benchmark for passing legislation protecting consumers is “feeling used,” then I can think of many more useful bills — a warning label indicating when Andy Dick will appear, for example. The possibilities are endless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inner libertarian: activate. Form of: a snarky blog post about a proposed City Council bill to force movie theaters to be truthful about when the main feature will begin: It’s the latest horror at the movies: endless ads for everything from ladies’ underwear to perfume to soda. But a new City Council bill aims to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}