There are many elements in movie marketing and taglines are often an overlooked part of the process, unless they stand out in one way or another. Some movie taglines stand out by being synonymous with the movie. Alien's "In space, no one can hear you scream" and Superman's "you'll believe a man can fly" taglines were certainly iconic as they completely fit in with their movies' themes. However, there were others that stood out for being vague or ill-fitting.
While moviegoers are probably not choosing the movies they see based on a tagline alone, a misleading tagline can still generate false expectations about a movie's plot or target audience. Some taglines are particularly strange, confusing audiences so much that the tagline feels disconnected from what they see on screen.
12 "Sex. Clothes. Popularity. Is There A Problem Here?" - Clueless (1995)
While it's true that Cher Horowitz, the main character of teen comedy Clueless, has a lot of clothes and popularity, this tagline is misleading.
Besides being inaccurate to the movie's plot, this tagline misrepresents Cher as a character. It only observes her lack of self-awareness but ignoring the character's nuanced mix of selfishness and selflessness. Audiences, however, quickly find out who Cher is thanks to her opening narration that lets them into her character.
11 "Is All This Living Really Worth Dying For?" - Soul (2020)
As one of the best Pixar movies of all time, the existential film, Soul, is bound to have a tagline that examines the meaning of life itself. While Joe Gardner's story does start with his death, this isn't the driving force in the film's ruminations on the soul.
Audiences found that this tagline oversells the relationship between life and death, as it really didn't focus much on the latter. Joe's journey is all about rediscovering the little joys in life that make it exciting, not necessarily an aversion to death or the grief that comes with it.
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9 "Someone Is Missing" - Shutter Island (2010)
Plenty of movies have vague slogans to intrigue moviegoers, and Shutter Island's tagline teases audiences just enough to get them excited. That said, Shutter Island is not as straightforward a mystery as this blunt tagline suggests, as it takes Teddy Daniels on a puzzling and dramatic psychological journey.
At the time of the film's release, the tagline may have been meant to be subverted by the film's more complicated take on its psychiatric hospital-set mystery. By design or not, though, plenty of audiences were likely confused by Shutter Island's slow drift away from its initial mystery.
8 "The Weekend They Didn't Play Golf" - Deliverance (1972)
As a dark thriller about a harrowing river journey, Deliverance is not for the faint of heart, and fans of the film will recognize this tagline as an ironically lighthearted representation of its plot. The film follows a group of friends who decide to take a river-rafting trip that quickly degrades into dangerous territory.
It's possible that this almost comedic tagline convinced audiences that they were in for a much lighter adventure, or perhaps a dark comedy. However, when audiences were then faced with the dark themes and sobering moral decisions presented by the film, they were likely shocked and horrified by the events unfolding on-screen.
7 "If You’ve Got A Taste For Terror… Take Carrie To The Prom" - Carrie (1976)
The classic horror story, Carrie, was marketed like many other horror movies, with an emphasis on the danger presented by its major threat. Carrie, however, is not the antagonist of Carrie, and her psychic attack at prom is caused by the torment caused by her mother and school bullies.
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So, just taking Carrie to the prom doesn't lead to violence as this tagline suggests, but it does set up the film's iconic prom sequence with flair. Despite its inaccurate details, the broad sense of the tagline is delivered on in the final film, even if it sets up misleading expectations about where moviegoers' sympathies lie.
6 "Fly Away Home" - Lady Bird (2018)
Like many of the best coming-of-age movies, Lady Bird has a narrative that's difficult to describe in a short, snappy format like the movie tagline. Referencing the film's title, this inspirational line is used to summarize the crux of Christine's story: her desire to leave her hometown of Sacramento.
Ultimately, this tagline seems to describe the story of someone returning home rather than Christine's story of leaving it and coming to appreciate it. While a short portion of the movie is dedicated to Christine's desire to return home, this tagline somewhat alters the film's perspective.
5 "Welcome To The 90s..." - Tom And Jerry: The Movie (1992)
A teaser poster for the 1992 Tom And Jerry movie plays on real-world events in a lengthy tagline; it celebrates the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Western Europe. This imagery is meant to contrast with the cartoonish violence between the cat and mouse. However, it has been known to confuse moviegoers.
First, Tom And Jerry: The Movie is primarily about memorable Hanna-Barbera characters, Tom and Jerry, working together to help an orphan girl, so the conflict promised by the tagline is limited. Also, the tagline suggests that the movie will focus on the duo's transition to the '90s, yet, the time period is not a major part of the story.
4 "LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex" - Vanilla Sky (2001)
With Tom Cruise's sci-fi film, Vanilla Sky, also known for its misleading movie poster, it seems like advertisers may not have known how to market this story of a man questioning reality. This tagline gives the impression that this is a film that will explore many aspects of daily life simultaneously.
As with any film, audiences can relate Vanilla Sky to real life, but the breadth of experiences listed in this tagline suggests a much more grounded experience than the movie actually presents. Many audience members were likely a little confused by the film's reality-bending concept on opening night.
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2 "The Untold Story Begins" - The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Considering that The Amazing Spider-Man was released just five years after the final film in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Peter Parker's origin story was fresh in fans' minds. The fact that The Amazing Spider-Man uses this tagline to suggest that the origins of this character are mysterious is misleading.
While there are elements to this new version of the Spider-Man origin story that are different from the original film (the inclusion of Gwen Stacy, for instance), nearly everything in the story comes from the comics. If fans were expecting a totally new Peter Parker origin story, then they would be sorely disappointed.
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