The Most Obvious Marketing Ploy of the Year Award Goes to…

So I’ve been wandering around the internet, looking at places I’d rather be than at work (so, we’re talking nearly endless wandering here) and I went to check out Six Flags Magic Mountain’s website to see what’s new since my wife and I are planning to head out there sometime this year.

The news of new rollercoaster at the park was the first thing that caught my attention, further fueled by the name; “Terminator Salvation: The Ride”.

At first, I found it odd that a whole ride was named after a movie that wasn’t released yet, but hey, “Star Trek” already has a sequel in the works so why not? It is a rollercoaster, so if Terminator Salvation bombs, they could probably just change the name and go on with life.

But having looked more at the posts on this new ride, it’s pretty hard to miss that the ride in question is clearly a wooden rollercoaster.

Wooden rollercoaster?

When I see a wooden rollercoaster, I have to admit I don’t immediately think of futuristic apocalyptic wars, intelligent mega computers, and assassinating robots. In fact, I can’t really think of any type of amusement park ride that’s further from futuristic computer robots than a wooden rollercoaster.

Oh, except maybe “The Whip” at Dorney Park:

So, obviously it’s a marketing ploy. There’s no way a committee said “What kind of ride can we built that best represents the story of ‘Terminator Salvation’” and came up with the answer “Wooden Rollercoaster”. Rather, then rubber stamped the ride, then pound the pavement of all the major Hollywood studios to see you’d fork over the most cash to through they’re potentials block buster’s title on it for the summer.

Am I saying there’s anything wrong with that? No. I just really loved the irony of the wooden coaster bit.