Digger's Anti-Critic Ad Echoes Megalopolis Flop — SkimNews
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- Digger's PR team released an online ad featuring Tom Cruise in a "serious fatsuit" repurposing a film line to tell critics "Fuck those people" and reframe negative reviews as evidence of unappreciated genius.
- Digger's ad pairs negative and laudatory words in quoted critic reactions: "UNPLEASANT – MASTERPIECE," "BAFFLING – BRILLIANT," "VERY GOOFY – EXCELLENT," and "MAGNIFICENT – INSUFFERABLE," closing with "SAME FILM – DIFFERENT TRUTH."
- The quoted critics appear to be entertainment journalists on social media rather than the longform reviewers whose Rotten Tomatoes aggregate scores shape box-office prospects and Oscar buzz.
- Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis previously attempted the same "bad reviews equal genius" rebrand, which collapsed when its quoted bad reviews for The Godfather and Apocalypse Now were exposed as fabricated.
- Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and star-producer Tom Cruise are entitled to disdain critics, the piece argues, but disdaining the press means following the example of the British Royal Family by ignoring them.
Why it matters: The campaign reveals a gap between Digger's design and reception: it was conceived as a broadly appealing liberal prestige drama, not a polarizing one. Ignoring longform reviewers whose Rotten Tomatoes aggregate scores drive Oscar buzz and ticket sales means the ad's reframing becomes the only narrative left standing.
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