Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller Minority Report has provoked a real-life investigation after advertising watchdogs in the UK received complaints over unsolicited voicemail messages. Some 27,000 messages featuring Tom Cruise's voice were sent out by Twentieth Century Fox to promote DVD and video sales of the film.
The Advertising Standards Authority has confirmed that it is looking into complaints that the message was inappropriate and offensive. It features a heavy-breathing Cruise demanding "Where is my Minority Report?".
Fox representatives meanwhile say that all those contacted had volunteered their numbers in a previous promotion and had agreed to receive further information.
Junk emails and text messaging have already become a part of daily life, but the use of voicemail as a direct marketing technique is a new development in Britain. It marks an unwelcome precedent and consumers may soon be deluged with floods of junk phone calls.
"The last thing you want when you pick up your phone is to hear Tom Cruise heavy breathing at you," said one marketing expert. "Marketers will use any channel they can. Many people will have signed up unwittingly to this and it will annoy them if they don't know it's coming."
Minority Report, which generated some $130 million at the US box office alone, is set to go on sale in time for Christmas and is expected to dominate festive video sales.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
