A fan of movie ads

Lynn Smith’s article (“Attack of the 40-foot ads,” Nov. 17) presumes that there are no moviegoers who enjoy on-screen advertising. Maybe I’m in the minority, but my first instinct when planning to see a current release is to choose a theater where one is guaranteed a “pre-show entertainment” segment and usually at least six previews.

But then I’m British and theaters always ran commercials and often they were large-screen versions of the very ones that you saw on regular television. There’s something great about seeing an ad you’re used to seeing on a small TV screen blown up to movie-theater size! Surely, advertising is all part of the grand moviegoing experience. Your article talks about some theaters allowing advertisers to target the audiences by movie rating. Surely this is just an extension of the practice that currently exists whereby trailers are tailored to suit the audience of the accompanying feature.

Pardon me, but it all makes tremendously obvious commercial sense.

Alan Warner

Los Angeles