As The Simpsons Movie is getting closer to arriving in theaters, the marketing department seems to be trying all sorts of interesting ways to promote the movie. On The Simpsons website, there is a feature that allows users to create their own Simpsons avatar^[1].

Users can choose whether they want their avatar to be male of female and a kid or an adult. After that users can tamper with hair-styles, eye styles, eyebrow thickness, nose structure, lip style, and a color for clothes and skin tone.

The Simpsons is also using MySpace as a major promotional arm^[2]. This may be because FOX owns the rights to The Simpsons and FOX is a subsidiary company of News Corp., the company that also owns MySpace.

The most interesting form of promotion so far to me was when The Simpsons signed a deal with 7-11. About a dozen 7-11s redesigned their convenience stores to look like the Kwik-E-Mart. The Kwik-E-Mart is a store in The Simpsons cartoon that is run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, an Indian immigrant^[3]. Below is an image I found from Junkyard Clubhouse of the 7-11/Kwik-E-Mart in Mountain View, Calif.^[4]

And here is my Simpsons avatar that slighly resembles me:

[1] SimpsonsMovie.com
[2] MySpace.com: Simpsons page
[3] Wikipedia: Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
[4] JunkYardClubhouse: Kwik-E-Mart Comes to Mountain View