Commercials come to the big screen

Bravo to Patrick Goldstein for denouncing the deluge of cheap ads that are destroying the moviegoing experience [“Now Playing: A Glut of Ads,” July 12]. Adding insult to injury is the fact that ticket prices continue to climb. If we have to watch these stupid ads, shouldn’t the advertisers pick up part of the ticket price? I try to remember every ad I see in a theater, and then make a point of never buying that product again.

Sean Overland

Los Angeles

*

I was vacationing in Ohio earlier in the summer and went to the multiplex for the final “Star Wars” film. Before the movie started there were literally 15 minutes worth of relentless, bombastic, numbing commercials for everything from track shoes to iPods to junk food. At least if I were home watching TV I could have changed the channel. Instead I felt I was being held an unwilling prisoner by American corporate greed.

Tom O’Leary

Los Angeles

*

Cliff Marks of National CineMedia touts the fact that some of the ads have never been shown on TV. That’s about the weakest possible selling point I can imagine. How many times do I have to say it? No ads! Get me straight to the feature (so I can watch a film filled with product placements).

David Salahi

Laguna Niguel

*

There is more: The same sins are beginning to be visited upon the DVD-viewing public in the form of pre-feature ads through which one cannot fast-forward. I warn them, and the movie-house commercializers at the same time: Yes, I for one can live without movies altogether. If I am force-fed commercials wherever I choose to watch movies, I shall simply forgo the experience.

Ken Neely

Pomona