Warner Revamps Ad Campaign for The Iron Giant

By Jack November 23, 1999 1:35 PM

Stung by criticism that it mounted an ineffective marketing campaign for the animated The Iron Giant when it was released theatrically, Warner Bros.?has totally revamped its ad strategy for the video release of the film today (Tuesday), including handing out $2-off coupons for the video to kids attending the Pok?mon movie, tie-ins with Honey Nut Cheerios, AOL and General Motors, and securing the backing of three U.S.?congressmen -- Ed Markey, Mark Foley and Howard Berman -- and the founder of Action for Children's Television, Peggy Charren, the Wall Street Journal reported today.?In an interview with the newspaper, Charren complained that the original campaign for the film did not indicate that the movie actually had an important message for kids.?"It was the worst ad campaign I'd seen in a long time," Charren told the newspaper.?She said she thought to herself at the time, "Who's going to know this is not like the idiotic cartoons that peppered Saturday morning?"