Warner Bros. is under fire for not giving Wonder Woman the promotional love it deserves as a tentpole summer film. Compared to its DC predecessors, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, the ad budget for Gal Gadot's flick, out on June 2, looks like that of a small indie. Now one product tie-in for the Amazonian warrior princess has us wondering what the studio is thinking.
While Suicide Squad and those caped guys got Doritos, watches, Chrysler, and the like, one of Diana Prince's only product partnerships so far is ThinkThin, the makers of high-protein bars, oatmeal, and smoothie mix.
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"This cross-promotion is full of the mixed messages of unrealistic standards women have forced upon them their whole lives," wrote Vivian Kane at TheMarySue.
"We love that Wonder Woman has super strength and we're proud to offer delicious products that give women the everyday strength they need to power through their day," ThinkThin president Michele Kessler said in a press release. So, their heart is in the right place maybe, but that name sounds like something that would have been more appropriate in the movie's World War I era.
.@thinkthin has partnered with the Warner Bros. Pictures Wonder Woman.https://t.co/lnEL4zHCdQ pic.twitter.com/AMLwoNxiQE
— Grocery Headquarters (@Grocery_HQ) April 24, 2017
The movie also has promotions with Dr. Pepper and Pinkberry, which also aren't very badass, but at least are not about dieting.
Why hasn't the studio gotten more high-profile products to pair with this movie? One possible explanation may be the poor reception of Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad. All the promotions in the world couldn't combat the evil villain of bad reviews and worse word of mouth. Perhaps advertisers were shy to be associated with one more DC flop.
But there's the more insidious theory that, yeah, this is a female-led movie and doesn't warrant the same investment as its counterparts. Warners has dragged its feet for more than a decade to make this movie happen, under the assumption that viewers aren't all that interested in a heroine. The spectre of last year's all-female Ghostbusters, which didn't make enough money to break even, is also haunting the industry this year.
Still, this is a movie about a goddess who saves us from the ravages of world war. Can she least get an invisible jet endorsement?