They wouldn’t promote the movie, but the fictional beverage in it, now that‘s worth marketing! From Danny Leigh of The Guardian:
1) Early last year, Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, made Idiocracy – an erratic but often wildly funny account of the final triumph of the congenitally stupid, set in an all-too plausible future America. 2) Judge directed the film for Fox, despite previously having been badly scalded when the studio allowed his fine corporate satire Office Space to sink without trace, unpromoted and abandoned. 3) Late last year, Fox allowed Idiocracy to sink without trace, unpromoted and abandoned.
And now, let’s hurtle back to the present, pausing only to note that in Judge’s movie, the end of civilisation was hastened by energy drink Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator – a toxic-green swill whose popularity eventually made water redundant, leading to the collapse of American agriculture. Because, while Idiocracy now languishes in unwatched semi-cultdom, Brawndo has become a reality – thanks to none other than Fox, which has joined forces with drinks retailer Redux Beverages to launch
and
In summarising, I gladly defer to Spout Blog’s Karina Longworth: “So, to recap: Fox wouldn’t support a film about Brawndo, the energy drink that destroys plants, debases the human race, and makes those who drink it ‘win at yelling’, but they are now putting wholehearted support behind the actual drink.”
Read it all at the above link. Given the plot, maybe they’ll have better luck pushing the drink if nobody sees the movie?
Thanks to Jim Dunn of Do What Now?, currently walking down memory lane with The Advertising of Christmas Past, for the tip.