OrlandoSentinel.com
Moms to Universal Orlando: 'Bloody Mary' billboards too horrible
Scott Powers
Sentinel Staff Writer
September 4, 2008
Universal Orlando hoped its "Bloody Mary" campaign would turn a few heads on Interstate 4 -- but some people are turning away from the resort's billboards.
For this year's Halloween Horror Nights festivities, Universal Orlando promised an "in-your-face" advertising campaign, with billboards the company vowed would seek new levels of provocativeness.
No thanks, some drivers are saying.
One group, called Metro Orlando Mommies, says Universal has gone too far. The Mommies are pushing to get the company to tone down the ads, particularly the violent, sometimes bloody images.
Last week, Universal put up 80 billboards advertising its 18th annual Halloween Horror Nights, which start Sept. 26. This year's after-hours, special-ticket horror-fest highlights scary urban legends and uses a character known as "Bloody Mary" as its iconic image. In urban legends, Bloody Mary is a ghost who can be summoned through mirrors. The billboards, along with other Halloween Horror Nights advertising, feature a broken mirror and a ghoulish Mary figure, sometimes dripping blood.
Metro Orlando Mommy Erin Heston, 33, who lives in downtown Orlando and has two children, Brock, almost 3, and Molly, 9 months, wrote Universal this week urging the company to take down the more graphic billboards and to limit its TV advertising to late-night programs.
"Each year, I grow more frustrated and disappointed by the choices Universal makes in advertising this event, which glamorizes violence and human cruelty," she wrote. "This year, I find the billboards truly unacceptable to our community."
Universal insists it is staying within the range of what is acceptable to the community. In recent years, Universal's campaign has featured such ghoulish characters as "Jack the Evil Clown," "The Storyteller," "The Director" and "The Caretaker."
"We want them to be fun and entertaining -- and communicate what the event is about," spokesman Michael Lewellen said. "Our approach is consistent with what we've done throughout the 18-year history of Halloween Horror Nights. But we also know there may be other opinions about our billboards -- and we respect those opinions."
Mommy Katy Leach, 29, of Winter Park said the first time her son Gavin, nearly 3, saw the billboard near Fairbanks Avenue she had a hard time explaining it to him. That was OK, she thought. But a couple of days later, out of the blue, he asked about it again. That was creepy -- that the image had stayed with him, she said. And the billboard is there, every time they get on I-4.
"I can't choose not to see it. . . . It's there, in my face," she said.
Lewellen said the company was monitoring reaction, but so far complaints were few. Bottom line: People are talking, he said.
Advertisers like that.
Scott Powers can be reached at
[email protected] or 407-420-5441.
Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel
i posted one example of past "hosts" with jack the killer clown, i mean come on that is basically a kid friendly thing twisted to scare people, yet it get no complaints.
