In the really early days, movie theaters did
not serve popcorn—too messy.
Then, after a time, popcorn became a staple
in movie theaters. Along with popcorn, people ordered soft drinks.
But sagging ticket sales have theater owners
trying something new. National theater chains and regional and independent
movie theaters are turning to alcohol.
In places as diverse as Girardeau, MO; Hilo,
Hawaii; Lexington Park, MD; and Muncie, Indiana, theater owners are lobbying
their local policymakers to allow them to serve liquor along with popcorn and
candy. Some 500+ theaters are now serving alcohol country-wide.
Once again, movie-going in America is
changing.
Naturally, serving alcoholic beverages in
movie theaters is controversial. Children ages 12 to 17 and young adults ages 18
to 24 are the most frequent moviegoers across the country. At one national
movie chain, adults who buy liquor for minors are not reported to police. So,
then the chain can point to the lack of police reports to get liquor licenses
for theaters elsewhere.
To make matters worse, some chains are
serving drinks with color (blue martinis with red raspberries) to correspond
with the movies. In this case, the red and blue were for the release of “Wonder
Woman.”
Alcohol has a high profit margin. Movie
theaters sales are lagging. Hence, the push toward liquor at the movies.
Lots of questions, though. Is it really a
smart idea to send drinkers into a darkened auditorium? How many underage
people are getting alcoholic drinks from adults?
Some communities are accepting the idea of
“Adult Beverage Concept Theaters.” Others are not. In places where the policy
makers have agreed to alcoholic beverages in theaters, but the community does
not, the people are pushing back through lawsuits.
But in places where the policy makers have
said no to liquor in movie theaters, the theater owners are filing lawsuits.
Not certain where this will end, but one
thing is for certain: the lawyers are getting rich.
From: Voices of the Governing Institute
Newsletter
Duke University conducted a study of students
who are in the habit of eating popcorn at the movies. What they discovered was
that people who are in the habit of eating popcorn at the movies will eat it
whether the popcorn is fresh or stale.
If the students ate the popcorn with a goal
of eating something good while watching a movie, they ate less when the popcorn
was stale.
But the students whose goal was just eating
popcorn at the movies, ate just as much if the popcorn was stale or fresh.
All of the students preferred fresh popcorn.
The study proves that addictive behavior will
cause people to do negative things because the behavior is an automatic learned
behavior.