Thursday, January 15, 2009
Organizers of the “No Milk for Cinemark!” Facebook group and website are boycotting Cinemark Theaters, a Texas chain that is showing Milk on its screens but whose CEO, Alan Stock, donated $9,999 to the “Yes on 8” campaign.
A YouTube employee, San Franciscan Justin Green, co-created the Facebook group and website for the boycott. Green and fellow Facebook member, Matt Rooney, were aiming for 1,000 people to commit to avoiding Cinemark’s Milk showings. The group currently has more than 29,000 members.
“The group is specific to the promotion of Gus Van Sant’s film and raising visibility around Alan Stock’s donation to ‘Yes on 8,’” Rooney says.
Proposition 8 was a California ballot proposition that changed the state’s constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry.
According to the official “No Milk for Cinemark!” website, www.nomilkforcinemark.com, if 50,000 people commit to see Milk at a competitor instead of Century, CineArts or Tinseltown theaters, at an average cost of $10 per ticket, that’s half a million dollars in lost revenue for Cinemark. The site currently reports $291,340 in lost revenue.
Josh Dieker, owner of Mix Media in Osage City, is a member of the Facebook group and is committed to boycotting the showing of Milk at Cinemark theaters.
“I researched Stock’s donation before I joined the group and sure enough he donated just under $10,000 to ‘Yes on Prop. 8,’” Dieker says. “My partner and I are making an effort to see the movie elsewhere.”
According to an analysis based on campaign finance reports submitted to the California Secretary of State’s Office since 2007, Alan Stock donated $9,999 to “Yes on 8,” on October 28, 2008.
James Meredith, Cinemark’s vice president of marketing, issued a statement denying any companywide stance on Prop. 8: “Any individual act or contribution is just that, individual acts of personal expression, and do not reflect company positions or policy.”
Drew Galleni, co-founder of San Francisco Movie Bears, a gay men’s social group who gather together to watch movies at local theaters, announced the group’s boycott against Cinemark theaters in an e-mail to members after he learned about Stock’s donation. The boycott marks one of the few times members of the bear community have been actively involved in a political issue, Galleni says.
“Hundreds of people in our social group see movies at Cinemark,” Galleni says. “We have bought thousands of dollars in movie tickets from Cinemark so after hearing about Stock’s donation, we decided to boycott Cinemark by not going there anymore.”
Scott Winer, 2008 graduate, says he would choose to see the movie somewhere else if Cinemark was in Lawrence. The closest Cinemark theaters to Lawrence are in Merriam and Kansas City, Missouri.
“For me, I don’t know how you could support Cinemark whose CEO encourages anti-gay rights,” Winer says. “I think this boycott is great, especially with the past election. Everyone is looking through rose colored glasses because Obama won but we can’t forget that on that same day, people’s rights were actually being taken away because Proposition 8 passed.”
Alex Earles, Salina sophomore, says he was against Prop. 8 and will encourage his family and friends to see the movie, Milk, but not at Cinemark theaters.
“I wanted to change my Facebook status when I heard about Stock’s donation,” Earles says. “I’ve encouraged my friends and family to see the movie but now I’ll have to persuade them to see it somewhere else.”
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