Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Protecting a World that Fears and Mistrusts Him



So I saw this on Variety:

"In an unprecedented marketing move, 20th Century Fox and the Franklin Mint have created a Silver Surfer U.S. quarter that has been put into limited circulation in advance of the release of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."

And my first thought was, "At long last, the Silver Surfer is on the quarter." And then I thought ... well wait a minute ... they're selling me movies on my money. A little googling turned this up from Fox News:

"The U.S. Mint said in a news release Friday that it learned of the promotional quarter this week and advised the studio and The Franklin Mint they were breaking the law. It is illegal to turn a coin into an advertising vehicle, and violators can face a fine.

""The promotion is in no way approved, authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by the United States Mint, nor is it in any way associated or affiliated with the United States Mint," according to the release.
""

Which made me feel a tiny bit better ... in the Variety report I read "Franklin Mint" and my eyeballs floated right past the "Franklin" part, and as much as I don't like 20th Century Fox getting into the habit of tampering with quarters to get my eyeballs on their movie promotions, I like it a little better than the actual U.S. Mint doing the same.

(If anything, they should bump Andrew Jackson off the $20 and put Thor up there.)