10 Unusually Funny Movie Marketing Campaigns

Deadpool has put a spin on the usual superhero fare by – get this – not taking itself seriously at all. Indeed, if the advertising is to be believed, Deadpool is a comedy first, and a superhero flick second. The theatrical previews are aggressively (and hilariously) profane, while the about-town billboards depict a ninja-looking figure posing in romantic and sexual poses. I think the tone of the film may be successfully conveyed.

Also: A History of Product Placement in Movies

While advertising has an insidious way of worming into the bloodstream unannounced, a clever or creative or just downright funny ad campaign will always be remembered fondly. Some commercials are hysterical unto themselves. Some ad campaigns are so misguided as to be hilarious. Some are so astonishingly clever, you have to give them a round of applause and a hearty chuckle. And some involve tie-ins that are more fun than the movies themselves.

Advertising is, in the modern age, a hefty percentage of most films’ budgets. So in many ways, a nationwide ad campaign can serve less as merely spreading the word on a movie, and more like a feature’s multimedia prologue. Would Star Wars: The Force Awakens, for instance, be worth the amount of ink that was spilled over it, were it not hotly anticipated for a full year? What if it slipped in, un-advertised, in mid-February? Something tells me the movie would be perceived differently.

Here, then, are our ten favorite smart and funny ad campaigns.

Slideshow: The Funniest Movie Marketing Campaigns

Top Image: 20th Century Fox

Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. He also contributes to Legion of Leia, and Blumhouse. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.

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