Budweiser Product Placement Crashes In Denzel Washington’s ‘Flight’

My first memory of product placement in movies was when E.T. ate Reese's Pieces back in 1982 and I've been eating those things ever since. However, Budweiser isn't all that happy about their beer being portrayed in a less than glowing light in the recent release of 'Flight' and are totally phoning home about it.

Denzel plays an alcoholic pilot and is shown actually drinking a can of Bud in the cockpit of his car and Anheuser-Busch isn't digging that. Normally companies pay for their products to be placed in movies but this one was free, although the brewer had no idea it was in the movie until it was released.

"We would never condone the misuse of our products, and have a long history of promoting responsible drinking and preventing drunk driving," said Anheuser-Busch Vice President Rob McCarthy. "It is disappointing that Image Movers, the production company, and Paramount chose to use one of our brands in this manner."

But are they taking this a little too personal? After all, the movie isn't glorifying drunkenness just because it's onscreen. I personally am not going to watch the movie and then stop drinking Bud because a character misuses it. If anything it'll inspire people to be more careful with their drinking habits I'd think. Unlike smoking onscreen, which is a harmful product in any dose, alcohol is perfectly fine in moderation. I can see both sides of this argument and it does seem a tad suspicious that Budweiser wasn't notified or asked to use their product in the movie prior to shooting it, as they likely would've said 'No'. Either way, I've been wanting to see this movie and this little debacle won't deter me, in fact I'm probably going to go home and drink a Bud or two now that their company is front-of-mind. Free publicity is free publicity right?