Whenever we go the movie theater, the first
thing that crosses our mind was, is and will be popcorn. No matter how many
snacks swoon us in the theatre, there won’t be an audience that doesn’t buy
popcorn.
How did popcorn, which has gained so much
popularity, become such an important snack in original movie theaters?
This popcorn impressed food lovers as early
as the 18th century. This popcorn was sold in the areas where thumbs
and thugs take place. Its price was very low. That is why the poor and middle-class people enjoy it the most. These popcorn sellers would appear wherever
the crowd was and would end up completely sold.
Over time movie theaters came into being.
When the vendors tried to sell popcorn knowing that the audience would go there
and watch movies, the theater owners refused.
Movies released in those days featured a
myriad of sentences between scenes. They could only be understood by the
literates and the ticket prices were very high so that only the educated,
employed and the rich could afford them.
The owners felt that food like popcorn appeal
to the lower class and thus refrained from serving popcorn in their theatres.
Another reason was that many movies didn’t not
have long sentences or words and very often the plot was driven by visual
scenes only. When the whole theater went silent, eating popcorn at such a time
was found to disturb the audience with the sounds that came while chewing it.
The Great Depression's role in commercialization of popcorn:
Talkies which started embracing movies of all
languages came after 1927. This made it possible for everyone to watch movies,
regardless of whether they were poor, rich, illiterate or having a meagre
vernacular vocabulary. With this, a large number of spectators came to the theaters.
Two years later, there was a global financial
crisis. The economic conditions of the American people were turned upside down.
People used to come to the theaters to watch movies to cope with their situations
and rejuvenate. Audience preferred to munch while watching the show rather than sitting
idle for the entire duration of the movie.
Citing this as a strong reason, the owners
could not refuse the audience buying popcorn from the vendors outside and bringing
their binge into the theatres.
As a commission, popcorn vendors for years
continued selling popcorn in the theater lobby to the theater owners.
How profits
started pouring in:
The standard rate for a bag full of popcorn was about 5 to 10 cents in those days.
Realizing that popcorn would fetch a price better than the movie tickets, the owners began selling popcorn themselves, without allowing popcorn vendors into the theater.
Sugar stocks in America plummeted during
world war 2. This led to a decline in the production of candies and sodas. But
popcorn didn’t need any sugar so automatically the demand for popcorn rose.
Even those who bought candies and sodas turned towards popcorn.
Thus, popcorn has become a sort of “monopoly” for the theatres. Given that the theatres were the sole vendors of popcorn they have started charging exuberant prices.
Not allowing outside food into the cinemas
furthered their cause of selling popcorn at higher rates because people who are hungry will ultimately have no choice but to purchase the over priced popcorn
from inside the theatre.
Innovation has also played a major role in
the marketing of popcorn. The introduction of several flavors of popcorn and
their scent lingering in the hallways makes it an irresistible temptation.
People get drawn to the food-stall like iron fillings to a magnet.
The theatres run at high profits not because of
the sale of tickets but because of the over priced food that they sell. It is
ridiculous how we end up spending more on food and popcorn rather than on the
ticket itself.
It is nothing but a form of extortion that
needs to end either by way of reducing the price and bringing it to the
standard price or allowing the audience to bring in their own snacks from
outside.
Written By - Keerthana Bharadwaj
Edited By - Tushna Choksey
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