u/JLJLovesRVA

Without exaggeration, I have seen hundreds of movies at this location since it opened. It's a fine theater and the people who work here are usually nice enough.

However, today I was pretty upset by the choice of pre-show advertising before my screening. The commercial that bothered me was a politically charged ad for the "Department of War", with voiceovers from Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump accompanied by over-the-top glamor shots of them alongside American soldiers and military vehicles. Historically, the military has stayed far away from domestic politics, but this was an alarming marriage of Trump's personal political brand and the traditionally nonpolitical armed services. If it had just been a run of the mill military recruitment ad, I would have just ignored it, but this piece seemed so explicitly political and provocative. Why are we injecting divisive and offensive political propaganda into nonpolitical entertainment?

After the movie, I went to the customer service desk to register a complaint about the ad. I was polite and made it clear that I understood no local employee was responsible for the pre-show programming, but that I would still like to register a complaint to be passed up the corporate ladder to whoever has the power to decide what ads are aired during the pre-show. I didn't expect my complaint to change anything on its own, but I also didn't want whoever is in charge to be able to say that nobody ever objected to this offensive content.

Unfortunately, the manager was very dismissive of my complaint. At first, she told me that I should just avoid arriving at the theater early so that I didn't see ads that upset me. Then she said that it's "just advertising" and that they have to air whatever they're paid to air. That's obviously not true; somebody has discretion over what they show in the theater. Surely there are all sorts of content Bowtie Cinemas would decline to air, even if somebody paid the advertising fee. Hard-core pornography, ISIS beheading videos, that kind of stuff. I think they should put explicit political propaganda (especially that which venerates corrupt war criminals and drunken woman beaters) on the list of content they don't air. After all, aren't the very same sexual predators in this "Department of War" ad routinely railing against shoe-horning politics into entertainment?

Anyway, the manager did not even pretend to take my complaint seriously at all. She finally said she would pass my sentiments along, but she wouldn't say to whom, which makes me think she was just telling me what I wanted to hear to make me go away. I have worked many customer service jobs, and I understand she probably has to deal with a lot of nonsense, but I was respectful and calm and I wish she had taken me more seriously.

I'll continue to see movies here, but I will still lodge a complaint any time I see Bowtie airing fascist propaganda. Very disappointing.