Sorry, Blake Lively: us in gamovie about domestic violence to sell stuffis not a good look

By Arwa Mahdawi – The Guardian 21-08-2024

 Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Grab your friends, wear your florals, settle down with a tasty cocktail and kick back: this year’s sexiest movie about domestic violence is upon us!

Er … what?

 If that was your general reaction, you are not alone. For weeks, the weird marketing for It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best selling novel, has been raisin geyeb rows and causing intense drama on the internet.

If you are avoiding spoilers, please click away, because I amgoing to give a little background for anyone unfamiliar with Hoover’s work.

It Ends With Us is about a florist called Lily Blossom Bloom who is seeming lyobses sedwith “marine-grade polymer” out door furniture.

(This comes up a lot in the book; don’t askwhy.) Bloom, who is working through the death of her abusive father, falls for a sexy neuro surge on called Ryle Kincaid.

He is abusive and eventually she leaves him, al though they end up co-parenting.

The portrayals of domestic abuse in the book and the film have received mixed reviews.

Some critics have accused Hoover, whose books are generally marketed as romance novels but often deal with abuse, of fetish is ingtox icrelation ships.

 This criticis mwas super charged last year when Hoover announced plans – later shelved – to release a colouring book based on It Ends With Us.

While CoHo, as she is known, has her haters, she has also been praisedher for the way she navigates difficult topics and for speaking about how It Ends With Us was influenced by her experience of growing up in an abusive household.

The film, which stars Blake Lively and has pulled in almost $200m (£155m) at the box office, has been commended by some experts on intimate-partner violence for tackling the subject with “sensitivity and depth”.

This matters, because Hoover has enormous reach: she is a publishing phenomenon whose  work outsold the Bible in 2022.

Love her or hateher, there is no denying that Hoover’s work has serious impact. Her books aren’tmycup of tea, but I think it’s great that she has opened up som any conversations about the different forms that abuse can take.

What isn’t great, however, is the breezyat best, wild lyinap propriat eat worst marketing for the film – which comes on top of rumours of a feud betwe en Lively and Justin Baldoni, the movie’s director and co-lead.

One of the promotion al pieces that has received the most criticis mis a cutesy Tik Tok on the official It Ends With Us page in which Livelysays: “Grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to seeit.”

It feels, first, like a desperate attempt to recreate the cultural moment that Barbie had and, second, completely in appropriate for a film about abuse.

Lively’s  sarcasticans wer to a serious question about how fans might talk to her about the movie’s themes (“Like location-share? I couldjust location-shareyou …”) hasn’t wonherany fans, either.

Thenthereis the fact that Livel yseems to beusing It Ends With Us to promoteher drinks companies. The post-premiere party featured cocktails made with her products – and the gin owned by herhusband, Ryan Reynolds – with theme dnamessuch as Ryle You Wait. Yep, thatis an alcoholic drink nam edafter the abusive adversary in the film– an inter esting choice, considering the links between alcohol and domestic abuse.

Also, to the casual observer, it looks as if Lively piggy backed the release of the film to launch herhair care line.

It has been reported that the launch was not intended to coincide with the film – but it has, hasn’t it? Not a good look.

Marketing amovie about domestic abuse will inevitably bechal lenging; a few missteps are understandable.

The problem her eisthat Lively seems more interested in marketing her brands than anythin gelse.

Cynics might suggest that you don’t sell hair products and drinks by talking about domestic abuse; that would be a real downer.

 Far better to focus on floral dresses and girls’ nights out! Judging by the backlash, however, this strategy isn’t working.

 I have a feeling that all this will end with the has tyhiring of a crisis-management firm.

 Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist.