I recently got the following mail from the folks at starwarsshop.com:

Dear Hillel,

As you have likely heard, the title to the highly anticipated Indiana Jones IV movie has been unveiled: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As with Indiana Jones movie titles in the past, this one has generated a lot hype and talk predicting another thrilling adventure. That said, we want to equip you with the some new and hip Indy style to keep the buzz going — a black t-shirt with the new Indy IV title logo emblazoned on the front. You will only find this new shirt at StarWarsShop.com, so be sure to pick one up before this exclusive t-shirt is gone!

The name itself aside (sounds a little Temple of Doom-ish to me), I was pretty annoyed by the shoddy text in the mail. In this era where informal, irreverent, and chummy text is the gaining acceptance, it’s even more important to make sure that communicating with customers is a respectful and genuine experience. Honestly the note above sounded like some marketing guy (or gal) who I’ve never met acting like we’re best friends. As I have “likely heard”? My we’re confident. “As with Indiana Jones movie titles in the past, this one has generated a lot of hype”? “Hype”? Is that really the word they want to use?

From dictionary.com:

–noun
5. exaggerated publicity; hoopla.
6. an ingenious or questionable claim, method, etc., used in advertising, promotion, or publicity to intensify the effect.
7. a swindle, deception, or trick.

I’m going to say “hype” is a poor choice of words. Of course, the impression that I get is that the author of the text made the right choice in that it reflected their true feelings about what they were trying to generate. And then they tell me that they “want to equip [me] with the some new and hip Indy style to keep the buzz going”. I’m sorry, since when is it my job to “keep the buzz going”. And if that’s really the point why am I paying for the shirt since your only interest is pushing the movie.

And finally, the t-shirt bores me. It’s Indiana Jones after all. This is a treasure trove of stylized imagery and has a very cool and distinctive aesthetic. But all we get is a logo on a black shirt? How about challenging the threadless design community to design a really cool Indiana Jones t-shirt. I bet I’d have a hard time choosing which one (or three) to buy. (I keep imagining something cool like just an image of the whip. No text.)

I think it’s time to fire the marketing folks/writers at starwarsshop.com. If they can’t convey a genuine excitement about the new movie both in the design of the t-shirt and in the way they talk about it then. It’s the first Indiana Jones movie in 19 years. Is this a going to be a resurrection of what made the original movies great or a shallow attempt to squeeze more money out of a dead franchise? If we guess based on the text above, then it looks like we’re in for the latter.