Since Morgan Spurlock's documentary was a response, in part, to product placement on Heroes, we talked to Hayden Panettiere's publicist about whether the actress would pose with Spurlock for a photo evoking John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Her publicist was interested, but we backed off because Spurlock is 40 and Panettiere is 21.
In Spurlock's movie, he interviews consumer advocate and Al Gore slayer Ralph Nader. "For heaven's sake," Nader says, "if you're going to sell out, you ought to be paid. I was supposed to be paid with a shoe, but that didn't fit. You've got to find someone who can use a size 12 narrow."
Spurlock refused to be photographed with brand logos in his mouth, an homage to the poster of his most successful documentary. When he asked if he could get a cut of our advertising revenues for this story, we declined.
Hyatt paid to be part of Spurlock's movie, including an ad that ran within the film. One coauthor of this piece checked into a hotel to get some peaceful writing time away from his family. And since Hyatt didn't buy an ad in this story, we'll tell you that it was a...
A version of this article appeared in the April 2011 issue of Fast Company magazine.
