The company which brews Budweiser beer has asked movie studio Paramount Pictures to obscure all images of the beverage in its new film Flight.
Brewers Anheuser-Busch did not want its popular beer brand associated with the plotline, which centres around an airline pilot who is accused of drinking, and includes scenes showing him consuming alcohol.
In a letter to production company Image Movers and Paramount, Robert McCarthy, the vice president of Budweiser, said Anheuser-Busch had “no knowledge of the use or portrayal of Budweiser” before or during the film’s production and were not contacted by the studio.
“We would never condone the misuse of our products, and have a long history of promoting responsible drinking and preventing drunk driving,” McCarthy said in the letter, which was emailed to Reuters.
“It is disappointing that Image Movers, the production company, and Paramount chose to use one of our brands in this manner.
“We have asked the studio to obscure the Budweiser trademark in current digital copies of the movie and on all subsequent adaptations of the film.”
Flight, which was released in US theatres last week, stars Denzel Washington as an airline captain who saves his plane from crashing but is accused of drinking before the flight.
The film, which made $US25 million ($30.2 million) in its opening weekend, has numerous scenes showing Washington consuming alcoholic drinks, including Budweiser, which is trademarked by Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc.
Representatives at Paramount Pictures did not immediately return Reuters’ calls for comment.
Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc.
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From tvnz.co.nz
Source:
http://movie.blogm4u.com/2012/11/06/budweiser-asks-movie-studio-to-obscure-beer-image-in-new-film/