Given its special knowledge of captive audiences, the French army has begun to advertise for recruits on popcorn cartons sold in movie theaters across the country, the European edition of the Wall Street Journal reported today.
Lt. Col. Richard Pernod, who heads the communications office at the army’s recruitment group, told the newspaper, “We always try to go where the young people are.”
However, the Journal noted, one exhibitor, the MK2 theater chain, has balked at the army’s popcorn carton campaign. Bertrand Roger, the head of the chain, said that his contract with the carton supplier, Pop Corn Pub, specified that the cartons would contain only “cultural advertising.” He told the WSJ: “We aren’t antimilitarist or promilitarist, but a movie theater is not the place for such an ad.”
