October
30 "Slumdog Millionaire" throws product placement into reverse

"Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle told Jack Malvern and Ben Hoyle that he engaged in "product displacement" -- removing the logos of Mercedes-Benz and "a well-known soft drinks company" (read: Coca-Cola) from a scene in his film "because they did not want to be associated with a Bombay slum." Says Boyle: “There is a scene where the kids are on a rubbish dump and they get offered these bottles of, er, popular fizzy drink. Not only were we not allowed to use their name, basically we had to paint over the label on the bottle as well. So we ended up paying tens of thousands of pounds painting out these symbols, which are meant to unite the world, aren’t they? I’d better not say any more about that or I’ll get in trouble.” Mercedes proved itself more reasonable, as the auto manufacturer was perfectly happy for its logo to appear in "Slumdog" when the film's action was set in a mansion. [The Times]