Why the new “Wuthering Heights” is a marketer’s dream

As the Emerald Fennell adaptation of Wuthering Heights gears up for its release on Valentine’s Day, marketers can’t help but admire its strategy, engagement, and cultural positioning. 

This movie’s launch is a marketer’s true dream – it’s a widely studied, classic literary masterpiece, with a divisive director who has a track record of provocative film (ahem, Saltburn) with two iconic A-listers as Cathy and Heathcliffe. 

The teaser trailer has already faced masses of backlash, but when controversy is handled intentionally, it’s a classic ‘rage-bait’ marketing tactic to get people talking. It sparked conversations, being deemed ‘too erotic’ and accused of dismissing Brontë’s original intentions to address taboos of social class, violence and racism, and whitewashing accusations as actor Jacob Elordi was cast to play Heathcliff despite the novel implying him as a person of colour.

Ultimately, everyone is talking about it. It’s sexually explicit, ‘inspired by the greatest love story of all time’ and romantasy, and it has claimed Valentine’s Day as its own – we’re ready.

But the controvsery surrounding the launch of the movie is very much intentional… “Emotional volatility is at the heart of the Brontë novels. Emily Brontë challenged the status quo by making people uncomfortable and addressing taboos, so much so she published under a pseudonym for her own protection. The romantasy genre thrives on ambiguity, internal conflict, emotional intensity, and desire, and by forcing people to stop in their tracks and driving cultural debate – the marketing is driving reach.”

Film teaser 

The official teaser was overtly sexual and erotic, and totally strategic from a marketing perspective. Their purpose is to instill excitement, drama, and speculation, and the teaser did just that.

In today’s social media era, that dramatic desire and discomfort is exactly what hooks the audience in and generates discourse, especially as it taps into the rising popularity of romantasy and dark romance fiction trends. 

While controversy suggested the teaser was distasteful and denied the novel’s complexity, it did exactly what it intended to – tease the launch of the movie. It simply listened to the cultural context: the shock-factor travels fastest in 2026, and the response solidified that. 

Release date

Opting for a Valentine’s Day release date was undeniably intentional, and arguably the most pointed marketing decision of all. It works as a paradox to the usual romantic, cosiness of Valentine’s, flipping the narrative with obsession, unease, intensity, and emotional chaos. 

A marketer’s takeaway

The real win: everyone has an opinion. Albeit divisive, we’re seeing black and white extremes in the discourse around the movie launch. Marketers’ ultimate goal is for the audience to be actively engaged, and transfer that engagement, and that has been a huge success. The campaign has an unavoidable presence and opinion, and it’s a typical ‘no press is bad press’ move.

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