Thoughts on Cinema Ads

I came across two stories about advertising in movie theaters today, one for (sort of, it's a press release), and one against.

First, the against, which is an editorial in the San Fransisco Chronicle titled "Skip the Cinema Ads" I can completely understand this person's perspective -- when I go and pay $9 for a movie ticket, I don't expect to be pummeled with advertisements when I sit down. Movie trailers? Ok, fine. But not ads for BMW or American Express.

But that's exactly what new technology from NEC is for. At least, it is according to this PR from them literally titled "NEC Solutions America Media Solutions Division to Present Digital Cinema and In-Theatre Advertising Solutions at ShoWest 2005". Here's the link.