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.