Treading Lightly: The Marketing of Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"

It's been covered by nearly every major news outlet in the world: Heath Ledger, the young actor whose star was rising with every passing moment, was pronounced dead at age 28 on January 22nd from an apparent drug overdose. While his life tragically came to an end that day, the event has triggered a blockbuster-sized dilemma for Warner Bros., the studio that will soon be releasing Ledger's latest, and possibly last, feature film, The Dark Knight. Until now, the marketing campaign has focused primarily on Ledger's character, the twisted and mysterious re-working of Batman's nemesis, the "Joker" (see left). Thus arises the question: Should the studio elect to keep their ad campaign as it is and risk a public outcry over the exploitation of Ledger's death, or should it change the focus of its advertisements and potentially lose profit? Many people close to the industry, seemingly caught up in emotion resulting from the unexpected death of the young star, have been predicting drastic changes in the handling of all marketing materials concerning Ledger. While their concern is valid and has, no doubt, been taken into account by the studio, the stakes riding on the success of the film, as well the history of the ad campaign itself, make it all the more clear that the best decision is to continue the marketing for the film as planned.

Filming of The Dark Knight had already wrapped at the time of Ledger's death and, although some questions remain about the post-production element of the filmmaking process, Warner Bros. has announced that there are no plans to change the film's content in light of the loss of one of the film's major stars. With that being said, there are major questions surrounding the studio regarding the direction that their movie advertisements will now take. While the film has long been anticipated by fans of the comic and those close to the film industry, the release of a 2-minute long theatrical trailer late last year sparked a huge wave of hype which the studio was still riding when the tragedy occurred. Like the film's previous advertisements, the trailer focused almost exclusively on the Joker character, whose appearance gained Ledger and the studio much praise. To discontinue its use of this character so soon after this highly successful trailer launch would be a monumental risk to Warner Bros. as the trailer served primarily to strengthen the connection of The Dark Knight to the Joker. More than anything else in the film's marketing campaign, which had up to this point been mostly viral ads and gimmicks, this widely publicized trailer demonstrates how central Ledger had been to the selling of the film to fans, and how much the studio could loose by phasing his character out of the spotlight.

As mentioned earlier however, the release of the trailer, while still a first glimpse for some, was hardly an introduction of the Joker to the film's ad campaign. Ever since the initial marketing for The Dark Knight began this past summer, The Joker has remained its central focus. The marketing techniques used, which included scavenger hunts, hidden websites, and fake newspapers, were clearly intended to generate curiosity, not only over the character itself, but over his portrayal by Ledger, whose casting was questioned by many when it was first announced. By having a marketing strategy that has remained consistent for so long, one could conclude that to continue the same strategy is not an attempt at exploiting the actor in question. In fact, it could be argued that to change the strategy might even draw negative attention to the film and the studio's handling of Ledger's death. Some however, such as Lew Harris, the editorial director of Movies.com, think that a change in marketing strategy should be in order. "I think they have to take Heath Ledger's face off the posters," says Harris. "I think the studio will be extremely sensitive and not want to be seen as trying to benefit from the tragedy in any way." With a track record of consistent marketing featuring the Joker, Warner Bros. can take solace in the knowledge that, should they choose to continue it, one only needs to chart the progress from the beginning of the campaign to see that their interest in the deceased actor as a marketing focal point has hardly been reactionary, and therefore, is lacking ill intent.

Luckily for Warner Bros. there are a number of avenues that can be traveled in their marketing campaign to allow them to soften the blow of Ledger's death that won't require them to scrap what they have already accomplished thus far. One of these possible adjustments revolves around another supporting character in the film, Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart), who eventually transforms into the villainous "Two-Face." While the Harvey Dent character has appeared in some early marketing materials, often as the butt of the Joker's gags (see right), it has hardly been indicated that there were plans to evolve his character into a centerpiece for the entire campaign and to eventually replace Ledger's Joker. Still, this is what some, including an unnamed source close to the project, say has been the plan all along. Another marketing hurdle that Warner Bros. has seemed to have leaped cleanly over concerns many of the film's licensing agreements having to do with the Joker. Early on in production of the film, when Ledger's take on the character was beginning to emerge, the studio executives apparently figured that, due to the intensity of the character, they would not use the actor's likeness on many of its products aimed at 5 to 9-year-olds. Therefore, these products, which often depict a cartoon version of the popular character can now be distributed as planned. By continuing to use these preplanned strategies, Warner Bros. can continue to market their film without making a drastic and jarring change to their ad campaign while still keeping Ledger's face from turning up on billboards.

Regardless of the presence of alternate advertising strategies however, there is a general feeling that the studio will continue to feature Heath Ledger at the forefront of their campaign. "I think it would be a mistake to take him away from the marketing campaign because in a morbid kind of way people want to see his performance because he's passed away," says Stuart Levine, assistant managing features editor at Variety, "And because if you're a fan of the franchise you want to see how he plays the Joker." For their part, Warner Bros. recently released a statement indicating that the marketing for The Dark Knight would not change, though the statement addressed neither the planned progression of the campaign nor its future focal point. One thing is clear, however: Much time and effort has gone into the efforts of marketing this blockbuster, including that of the campaign's focus, Heath Ledger. Since it is clear that the focus on his character is not a recent move, the smart financial decision, in this case, coincides with the smart moral decision. One should let the film do what it was created to do: make money. In the process, and with the right handling, it will also produce a lasting tribute to the talents of Heath Ledger--a tribute that, no doubt, would be diminished if Warner Bros. simply pulled the plug on the Joker at this all-important juncture.