Marketing Eyebrows ',:)

A few posts back, I was ranting about promotional images and such. In that post I first mentioned "marketing eyebrows" and then said that that was for another post. And then in my "Posters" post I continually was mentioning them. Now, I figured was a good time to really hit down on them.

What are "marketing eyebrows"?

If you look at a poster, mostly from animated movies, you will most likely see at least one of the characters looking at you with this sort of mischievous smirk and one of their eyebrows raised. THAT is what I refer to as "marketing eyebrows".

It all started with Dreamworks back in the early 2000's when Disney was finally losing their spark (I say "finally" in regards to their competitor's POV). Dreamworks seized their opportunity to start really becoming popular with the public. That's when Shrek came out. The public just ate it up. Everyone loved it! But what made so many people go see it? I mean obviously once some people went and saw it, they went and spread the word, but at first what was it? Dreamworks was, like I said, not very popular. They certainly did not advertise this movie to be like Disney, which is what everybody loved. So what did they do?

They came up with a new marketing tool... the marketing eyebrows. By raising that one eyebrow just a tad and giving that character a little smirk, it makes people wonder, what could this character be up to? It gives them a sense of mischievousness, maybe a little rebellion and mysteriousness. People, even if it's subconsciously, are drawn to that.

Anyways, Dreamworks continued to use this new tool on their posters for their future movies and people kept coming and they kept making money. Lots of it. Soon, other animation companies began to copy this marketing tool, hoping to gain viewers. Whether the movie is good or not, if you make your advertising good, it brings people in. And the marketing eyebrow seemed to be key.

Now even Disney is using it. They've jumped on the bandwagon. By golly! You see it everywhere! Just look at these posters!

The one that started it all. They've all got those eyebrows!

Well, now I hope I have educated you all. You'll probably start noticing this a lot more, now that it's been pointed out to you. Sorry. Not sorry. Oh well ^_^