I'm at the weird age..where I've witnessed things come in cycles....leave and then come back. I seen it like a Zenith,
Spike Lee created the Black-film-release-as-cultural-event with Malcolm X. Members who were around then surely remember the marketing genius of Spike Lee and how he got basically a year's full of free publicity for the film with the hats, t shirts, interviews,etc. If I'm not mistaken Spike was quoted as saying that the opening date of Malcolm X was a "national holiday" and you shouldn't "send your children to school that day"
Not sure what the promotional budget was for the BP film, but they've gotten at least 4 times as much free promotion by using Spike's template.
This ain't something that you never seen before. NO. This is something old......and dirty.....and dirty..and dirty