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Advertiser News Services
Not everyone will be streaming into theaters today like so many bewitched Muggles under a Mobiliarbus spell.
There are holdouts who don't want to see "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which opens in theaters today.
Steve White of Washington, D.C., turns 10 this week. To celebrate, his parents asked him whether he wanted to attend the new "Harry Potter" movie. The fourth-grader had read and enjoyed all four "Potter" books.
His answer: No.
"I might rent the movie after I've read all the books, but until then, I don't want to see the movie," he says. Steve says he wishes the filmmakers had waited to make the movie until J.K. Rowling had finished the expected seven books.
His brother, William, 12, agrees. "I want to be able to imagine the characters the way I see them in my head when I am reading the books. I don't want to see (the movie director's) vision," the sixth-grader says.
A marketing report suggests that the White brothers are not in the majority. Among those who have read the books, about 71 percent of adults plan on seeing the movie, while 79 percent of children intend to do so, according to research firm NPD Group Inc.
Still, there are other reasons some people will avoid the movie, some on religious or moral grounds. According to the American Library Association, the Harry Potter series was the most challenged book of 2000, with people objecting to "occult/Satanism and anti-family themes."
And then there's the commercial aspect. "Harry Potter is being sullied," says Kalle Lasn, the editor of Adbusters magazine and the author of "Culture Jam." An admirer of Rowling's work, he is repulsed by the tsunami of Potter-related merchandise. He calls it the "commodification" of a magical book.
Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, will be taking his daughter to the film. But his nonprofit group has a Web site, www.saveharry.com, that urges visitors to e-mail Rowling to protest the deal between Coca-Cola and Warner Bros. The soft-drink giant paid an estimated $150 million for global marketing rights to the movie.
"They are using the wonder of "Harry Potter" to tell children to consume more junk food," Jacobson says. "Soft drinks affect health and fuel the obesity epidemic."
The nonprofit group is urging "Harry Potter" fans to distribute leaflets for its "Save Harry" campaign in front of movie theaters and bookstores.
Coca-Cola plans to distribute more than 100,000 hardcover books in classrooms and community centers as part of its "Harry Potter" campaign. Ads will feature either owls or Hogwarts castle. "Soft drinks have and will continue to be a part of a balanced and healthy lifestyle," said Coca-Cola spokesperson Susan McDermott. "We are helping Warner Bros. bring the magic of reading to more people."
