How to not market a Domestic Violence Movie: It Ends with Us
- Romaisa Rehab Khan
- Oct 28, 2024
- 3 min read
It Ends with Us”, a film released this august, a book adaptation of the popular book released in 2016, follows Lily Bloom (played by Blake Lively) who confronts the irrevocable scars inflicted by domestic abuse and breaks the generational cycle. It was easy for those who were unfamiliar with the book to confuse this with a romantic comedy rather than a film about domestic violence. This widespread confusion is attributed to the imperfect marketing that accompanied this film. The tone deaf press tour centered around florals, pink, glittery dresses and Blake Lively’s hair care line rather than domestic violence.
There has been widespread discontent with the approach the book’s author, Colleen hoover and the producer as well as lead actress, Blake Lively have taken when promoting this film. Many viewers prior to watching the film confirmed their confusion regarding what the film was about, many going into theaters thinking the film was a romcom. This is because the film was marketed like one of those romcom blockbusters, but this is not just any other film rather one that needs to be approached with complete and utter sensitivity. Glamourised social media posts portrayed this film as “girls night out film” with Blake Lively saying “Grab your friends. Wear your florals.” These types of media strategies are common for light hearted comedy films like Barbie that the “It Ends with Us” marketing has adopted. It is obviously true that in terms of profit, a romcom is highly likely to do better than a cynical domestic violence film, yet it is still disappointing that media cannot exist without thinking about its translation into profit.
A lot of social media’s focus has been on the claimed difference between the director as well as lead actor of the film, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively. While Justin completely separates himself from his cast and actually addresses the dominant theme of the book with sensitivity. On the other hand, Blake Lively has faced severe criticism for shying away from the topic of Domestic violence rather marketing the film as a fun get together and using the film to promote her haircare line as well as her husband’s movie.
The film as well as its promotion has had a lack of trigger warnings. One viewer noted that due to the “friendship aspect” stressed by the official tiktok of the film made him watch the movie and was surprised that the film did not provide any trigger warning for those with PTSD or who were sensitive to the topic.
It should also be noted that not only was the film marketing as a romance but so was the book. The book is often promoted as a love triangle between the main character, her abuser and her childhood lover and lily’s storyline with domestic violence is often sidelined. This is a broader issue with publishing and media sometimes misrepresenting or trivializing sensitive topics like abuse for marketability seen with Vladimir Nabokov’s book “Lolita”. Nabokov’s Lolita, a story about abuse, has often been marketed with provocative imagery, like covers featuring lips which can misconstrue the novel’s message and perpetuate a sexualized interpretation against the author’s wishes.
This mismanaged poorly executed marketing has caused hundreds of people on social media to romanticize Lily and Ryle’s relationship. Some have even dubbed the abusive plotline a “dark romance” which takes away from the entire message of the movie.
This film and the controversy raises the question: How do you market a film about domestic violence? It is definitely a challenge. But it should not be through wearing floral dressing and encouraging fans to do the same and using it as a way to promote your products.