The Deeper meaning to it all.

[tar-ancalime]

Those fluffy pillow scenes (Frodo waking up after the flight to the ford and after the quest is completed) are blatant plugs for fabric softener.

[The Only Real Estel]

Well, me thinks that Gimli was just there so that men would take one look at him and either go out and buy a fancy new razor, or stop shaving all together

I think that Rob Zoombie gave Peter Jackson some pressure to encourage people to go for increasingly wacky hairstyles, personally.

And it's pretty obvious that the stark contrast in the films between light & dark was only to encourage people to buy lightbulbs with more voltage--or else they'd turn into a giant, all-seeing (most of the time ) eye. It's also interesting to note that the big battery companies jumped on the same bandwagon & used the you'll-turn-into-a-huge-eye excuse to promote their battery rechargers.

[Beanamir of Gondor]

Well I just think it's a travesty that they had to advertise to get in new fans at all. If they'd just done everything exactly as it was in the books there still would have been... several... hundred... tenths of people that would watch the movies.
Anyway, my take on it is the drinking songs. Blantant advert for Budweiser. I can hear the frogs: "Are you hot as a hobbit in the house of Eorl? Have a drink--Budweiser is the sponsor of the Pelennor Fields Games. Watch for our ads on the sides of the Oliphaunts!"

[Ainaserkewen]

Ouch! This Viggo-fancier suddenly finds herself in the "old lady" demographic!

Hey! I'd take Strider over Lego any day and I'm only 14!

Would you believe me if I said that I just got caught up in it all? I meant no offence to any young Viggo lovers. And if you have bothered to be on this website at all, being able to use the Internet in the first place garentees that you indeed are not at all old. I am 17 and I have spoken.

Was Arwen's heightened role just a ploy to get us all to buy more hair products, so that we too could dream of having Liv Tyler's super-shiny hair? And I noticed that all the Elves had perfect skin, so maybe this was marketing new make-up products at us, or else photo editing software I for one have certainly been smoking more following the films;

I was thinking the same thing! The elves are so perfect that everyone buys more beauty products to look like them. And not just women either! What approximate year was it that the term "metrosexual" came out? Where did if come from anyway!?

[Maeggaladiel]

We all know the quest of the Ring wasn't really that hard or treacherous. The reason the filmmakers made it so was due to pressure from car manufacturers. A world where people don't have cars is one where you are bombarded by enemies and you turn into a filthy, shrivelling wreck within days.

Use your common sense, buy more cars.

The scary thing is that inside each copy of LOTR, there actually is a gamepiece to win a car.


The Flaming Denethor scene was obviously an advertisement for fire prevention. I guess the budget couldn't allow for a cameo by Smokey the Bear.

Boromir's death scene contained subliminal messages for Capital One cards. Borry didn't HAVE the card, unlike Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, so he was killed by the rampaging mob. All he had to say was "Don't worry about the broken Horn of Gondor, Merry, we'll just put it on our Capital One card." Then the Uruks would stop in their tracks and look very unhappy. Lurtz would say "What's in YOUR wallet?" and the whole shindig would be over. Ta da!

Elves in general are walking Herbal Essences commercials. You throw 'em in a battle filled with mud and flying blood, yet their hair stays shimmery and flowy and perfect.

[Nimrodel_9]

Would you believe me if I said that I just got caught up in it all? I meant no offence to any young Viggo lovers. And if you have bothered to be on this website at all, being able to use the Internet in the first place garentees that you indeed are not at all old. I am 17 and I have spoken.

*bows to Ainaserkewen*

Gandalf, Strider, and the hobbits are trying to sell tabacco, or worse "weeds!!!" nooooooooo

Oh yeah, and we can't forget "the pint."

[Ainaserkewen]

Gandalf, Strider, and the hobbits are trying to sell tabacco, or worse "weeds!!!" nooooooooo

If it is indeed advertising "weeds!!" as you say then their sales pitch no-doubt would be something like "Better than BC Bud".

Not only are the movies’ product placements advertising a multitude of products and expenses that you could point out, it is also advertising something much more evil...

Stereotypes are reinforced inside Tolkien's world! Gasp!
Stereotypes that we have long harboured in all societies and long fought against. For example, Pippin is only solidifying the false idea that the younger you are the dumber you are. Never mind the lack of experience, there are a multitude of characters who proclaim this. Is it a personal grudge that the author has or the government trying to keep the radical youths from gaining real power?

Another common one is the women who are objects, mere paperweights in the story throughout, and not very smart paperweights either. Arwen is a silly romantic (another example of youth=idiocy?), Eowen keeps messing up, and don't forget that comic relief women in the houses of healing. And always the men triumph and look cool doing it!

All of these stereotypes are probably selling something, I won't go into the intricate plans of the evil censors or advertisers. Someone is making too much money. And my friends, the only way to fight them is to bring these pirates the limelight they deserve and uncover their foul plots disguised so cleverly as mere characters in a fantasy story.

[Oddwen]

"The Lord of the Rings" is completely an advertisement for Wisk laundry detergent. Some of you may remember that tv commercial, with those annoying people chanting "Ring around the collar! Ring around the collar!". All we hear in the movie is "The Ring must be destroyed! The Ring must be destroyed!", and Frodo seems quite reluctant for others to see it and indeed embarassed if they do.

Also, "Lord of the Rings" might be a reference to the rings on the planet Saturn, which could either mean that the carmaker Saturn had some influence, or that NASA got its hands on the material and want to fund more probes into deep space.

The latter would of course explain the 'dumbing down' of LotR, as the rocket scientists would not expect the average American to have any brains at all.