I'm on the spam email list for Excel Entertainment, which distributes most of the LDS-themed movies that come out these days, including the most recent one, "The Work and the Glory." Today I got an email announcing the "nationwide" release of "W&G" on January 21.

What was particularly interesting is the methods by which Excel is asking me to actually do their job for them. The real point of the email wasn't so much to announce the national release date as to encourage me to "forward this email to your personal email list (minimum 5 )." If I cc Excel, they'll keep track and give the first 100 people to do so a free soundtrack CD! "In addition, the five respondents who forward the email to the most addresses will also win a FRAMED "The Work and the Glory" POSTER autographed by the cast!"

If you go to the movie's official web site, one of the most prominent things on the homepage is a link that allows you to "HELP SPREAD THE WORD. Click here to print a customizable poster or to help get the word out in your area."

Isn't advertising the job of the distribution company? Are they really encouraging me to spam my friends with what amounts essentially to a chain letter? Do they actually expect me to print off posters and tack them up on telephone poles all around my neighborhood? I don't even want to think what they mean by "help get the word out"--door to door proselytizing?

I understand that this is a relatively small budget (but see here (scroll to Dec. 15) for a hilarious commentary on this film's budget) independent movie that is going to have to rely on word-of-mouth if it's going to have a chance of succeeding. But spreading the word about a movie is not the same thing as spreading the word about the Gospel, as it seems Excel wants us to believe. I have yet to see a movie that is so great I will be inspired to plaster my neighborhood with posters about it. And the reviews of this movie indicate that it's merely mediocre.

I will not be your advertising monkey.