Charities Help Movie Studios Promote Films

Creating partnerships with nonprofit organizations can be profitable for movie studios looking for a memorable way to promote their films, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Paramount Pictures and Walden Media tapped Heifer International, a nonprofit group in Little Rock, Ark., that gives livestock and aid to poor people around the world, to help promote their new movie Charlotte’s Web.

Heifer International included a message about the movie in its newsletter and will host a petting zoo when the film is released on DVD; the movie studios will hand out brochures on giving to the charity.

Working with a nonprofit group can make a studio stand out in the marketplace, says the newspaper. But charities don’t always jump at the chance to cross-promote, such as the blood drive started by Lionsgate as part of its marketing for the slasher movie Saw. The Red Cross accepted the blood, but asked that the company remove the red crosses from the uniforms of the movie poster’s sexy nurses.

“Naughty nurses are not something the Red Cross can approve of,” said Julie Whitmer, Red Cross’s director of celebrity and entertainment outreach.

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article about movies that promote causes.

(Paid subscriptions are required to view both of these articles.)