The MPAA banned it. The City of Philadelphia blocked even a modified version from its transit shelters. Yet the poster for Kevin Smith’s upcoming comedy Zach and Miri Make A Porno is creating no such stir here. The film stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as impoverished roomies who discover an entrepreneurial knack for adult entertainment.

The poster is nearing the end of a four-week ‘flight’ on the Toronto Transit Commission. Spokesperson Anastassia Bouktsis says she is not aware of any complaints, though the poster was flagged as potentially controversial and vetted by an advertising committee.

Michele Erskine, director of marketing for CBS Outdoor Canada, the ad sales agency for the TTC, adds that she has not heard of any complaints across the country. ‘We err on the side of caution,’ she says.

Alliance Films, which has the picture for Canada, chose to use the original artwork – a clear-but-coy image of Rogen and Banks on the receiving end of mutual stimulation. The Motion Picture Association of America banned it, leading its distributor, the Weinstein Company, to issue a second poster in the U.S. featuring stick figures.

The poster seen in Canada is the primary poster abroad. Asked if Alliance had any qualms about using the image in a national campaign, VP of publicity and promotion Carrie Wolfe says, ‘It never occurred to us. The poster came up, we liked it a lot.’ She adds that the controversy in the US erupted after the fact, noting, ‘Canada tends to be bit more liberal on the whole.’

As for the film, Smith successfully appealed the MPAA’s initial NC-17 rating, a designation that seriously undermines marketing campaigns in the US. The film is rated 18A in Ontario, and opens in the US and Canada Oct. 31.

From Playback Daily