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I didn't complain when John Kerry appeared on the $20 bill (stop and take a look; I'll wait), but 20th Century Fox (Owned by NewsCorp, NYSE:NWS) has taken the misuse of American money to a new low by altering 40,000 U.S. mint quarters with an advertisement for their latest Fantastic Four movie. The Franklin Mint altered the image on the back of California quarters to show the Silver Surfer character from the upcoming film, "Rise of the Silver Surfer," probably to tempt people like me to write stories like this, confident that there is no such thing as bad publicity. According to a story on Superheroflix.com, the quarters will be distributed across the country in especially outfitted silver armored cars and dumped into general circulation. Those lucky enough to find such a quarter can then register for prizes including a chance to win a trip to the world premiere in London.
The U.S. Mint has already informed Fox that such use of American tender for advertising purposes is illegal. Duh. I strongly suspect this comes as no surprise, but that they believe any penalty will be more than offset by the press received.
If this works, look for 20th Century Fox ads on our twenty dollar bills, Tenneco (NYSE:TEN) ads on tens, ads for T-Mobile's Fav5 on fives, Dollar General (NYSE:DG) logos on dollars, and casino ads on Sacagawea dollar coins.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-07-2007 @ 6:04PM
ladysaphyre said...
I've seen these quarters - a coworker received two of them in change.
Shame on Fox - they've really hit a new low with this. It basically shows the entire country that big business doesn't have to concern itself with such trifles as abiding by the laws of the land, or respecting the property of the United States Government. I hope the Government levies a huge fine on Fox for this - how about $1M per defaced coin?? It certainly would eat up the profit margin that Fox will earn on the movie.
At the very least, the irreverant ad man who came up with this idea should lose his job.
Here's one avid movie goer who will say, "Thanks, but no" to the Not-So-Fantastic Farce.