I don’t know if any of you guys have heard about it, but there’s a Deadpool movie coming to theaters. Just so you know. They’ve been pretty restrained in promoting it.
But I jest. The Deadpool marketing has been good, but for me (and I get that my job means I am exposed to it more than most), it’s also very close to becoming annoying. It feels like the movie has been releasing new videos of Reynolds in character every single day. Not new footage, mind you, which I would have pored over with the dedication of a paleontologist trying to excavate a brand new fossil, but quick hits of Deadpool being Deadpool.
Now the Wrap reports that on Monday, MTV, VH1 and Spike will run nothing but custom ads for the movie for three hours. And starting today, MTV, VH1, Logo, Comedy Central and Spike will start airing spots warning viewers that the takeover is coming. That’s just too much. It’s textbook “too much of a good thing.” Three hours of nothing but Deadpool on three networks is a lot, but adding commercials about having nothing but Deadpool commercials is a whole new level of marketing hell.
Oh, and that’s not all! The networks have also changed their schedules so the “right shows” are targeted. On the one hand, that means that a special Deadpool ad will air during Golden Girls, which Deadpool follows on Instagram in the movie. That’s funny. On the other hand, Deadpool is going to show up during Teen Mom and have a dedicated @midnight segment.
It’s too much, and it’s probably going to be confusing for at least some viewers. Obviously, the studio hopes that repetition is the key to beating ad fatigue. But there is every chance that this ubiquity turns it into white noise that’s easy to ignore—or worse, it may start getting on people’s nerves. Which is tragic, because Deadpool looks like it’s going to be a blast. It’s a minor miracle that it got made at all!
Just... settle down, guys. Don’t blow this in the movie’s home stretch.