One-star boycotts may be working

There was a lot of debate over the past few years about consumers rating down books, movies and other products with one-star reviews because of issues not directly related to the quality of the entertainment. Rather, fans were upset about formatting, pricing, obnoxious digital rights management and other media deficiencies. Authors and producers whined but Jason Kottke cut right to the heart of the matter in a March, 2010 post, “The new rules for reviewing media,” which I quoted heavily a few months later in a post about unworthy Blu-Ray disks. In today’s multi-device, multi-screen, multi-option world, matters of formatting and media and pricing and DRM and so on are just as relevant to a consumer’s entertainment purchasing decisions as the quality of the content.

Now some evidence that those one-star boycotts are having an impact.

I got one of Amazon.com’s usual email tip sheets today, this one filled with heavily discounted DVD and Blu-Ray disks. Most of the goods were what you’d expect like the 25th anniversary edition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in high-definition. But there amidst all the junk — with a pathetic customer rating of 1-1/2 stars — was the Blu-Ray collection of the three Lord of the Rings movies selling for more than half off the cover price. How can it be that one of the most beloved and profitable movie franchises of all time is hated and rejected on beautiful, high-definition Blu-Ray?

There’s a simple reason and I’ve discussed it before. The studios decided to release this wonderful set of movies only with the shorter, seen-in-theaters versions, not the extended director’s cuts that came out later. It seems after rooking us for double-fare in the original DVD release, New Line Home Video thought we’d fall for that trick again. No dice. Customers got up in arms and, now it seems, stayed away in droves. The one-star boycott appears to be working.

UPDATE: Next major battle? E-books priced for more than the hardcover versions? The New York Times reports on crazy Kindle pricing of the latest Ken Follett and James Patterson tomes. Oy vey.