Apple shoves F1 movie ad into Wallet
Apple's F1 movie opens in theaters on June 27, and the company really wants you to know about it.
On Tuesday morning, Wallet users noticed an Apple Pay notification that was both a coupon and an advertisement for the racing film. It offered "$10 off 2+ tickets to F1 The Movie at Fandango." When they clicked "Get tickets now," they were taken to a dedicated Fandango link that instructed them to use the promo code "APPLEPAYTEN" as well as use Apple Pay to receive their discount.
Not everyone likes being advertised to in such a forceful manner, and while it's not nearly as bad, it's reminiscent of the U2 album fiasco. In 2014, Apple pushed U2's album Songs of Innocence to the devices of every iTunes user in the world. Over 81 million users received the free album, and it did not go over well.
The budget for F1 was, by some reports, as high as $200 to $300 million, though its lead producer and director have both disputed that figure . This is Apple's first real attempt at making a summer blockbuster, and the company is pulling out all the stops from aggressive ads to a haptic trailer just for iPhones .
For those planning to see the movie anyway, the discount runs through June 29, and $10 off is nothing to sneeze at. That being said, I hope it doesn't become a trend. After all, if I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket, opened it to grab a $20 bill, and saw that someone stuck a coupon for a movie inside it, I'd be a little miffed.
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