Product placement is gaining popularity among markers, but it also has its downside. Just ask beer marketer Coors. Months ago the Colorado-based brewer indicated it would be involved in "Scary Movie
4," which was recently released. The plan was later dropped, Coors says, because an agreement the brewer had with Miramax, the studio that made the movie, expired. However, an alcohol industry
watchdog group says otherwise. The group, known as the Marin Institute, says the brewer reversed gears because of pressure it placed on the company. The group put out a press release that claimed a
victory in what it called the battle against youth-targeted marketing efforts by the alcohol industry. "Coors learned a scary lesson," Amon Rappaport, spokesman for the Marin Institute, said in the
release. "There's no happy ending when you promote beer in teen movies." Coors Brewing Co. spokeswoman Kabira Hatland denied that the Institute and its allies had anything to do with Coors' decision
not to be involved in the film. A 2004 Colorado lawsuit accused the company, which subsequently merged with Canadian brewer Molson, of using the Coors Light twins--an identical pair of buxom young
women--to promote the film "Scary Movie 3," which carried a PG-13 rating. The suit was later dismissed.
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