Deceptive Marketing: Golden Globe Winners Announced In TV Ads?

Hopefully by now you all know not to trust advertising. Movie advertising in particular can be extra sneaky, as studios who have a bad movie will go to any lengths to make audiences think it's good. Some examples include editing a critic's actual words to give them them a positive spin, or turning to Twitter to quote random viewers, passing the quote off like a published review.

The latest twist on this disturbing trend comes from The Weinstein Company. They're marketing August: Osage County and Philomena (at least one of which is a good movie with solid reviews) as if they've already won the Golden Globes they've been nominated for. See what we mean below.

These screencaps (and whole idea for this piece) come from Franklin Avenue.

The Golden Globes don't happen for a few weeks so neither film has won any awards yet. But, putting the word "Winner" so prominently in the advertising obviously suggests that each has won. Especially when the word "nominee" is in much smaller text. What they're saying, and it's not technically a lie, is each film "won" a nomination. Yes, out of the hundreds of eligible films, August: Osage County and Philomena got Golden Globe nominations. Even with big stars in each, that's a big deal for two smaller films that will live or die on their awards success. However, the implication is deceptive to a casual filmgoer who might not have the Golden Globes circled on their calendar.

In this particular case, The Weinstein Company isn't as evil as it might be because, worst case scenario, someone pays $12 to see two good, smaller films. That doesn't change the fact of the manipulation, though. Touting the nominations should be enough to get people interested, but pretending like you've won is wrong.

What are your thoughts on this?