Who were the ad wizards behind that one!?!?

Touchstone Pictures is doing an interesting thing marketing Mel Gibson's new movie Apocalypto. Instead of shying away from mentioning Gibson's name - a move that would seem inevitable with the recent drunken admission of his anti-Jew, pro-sugar tits stance - he's actually more front-and-center in the ads than any other director I can recall.

Just take a look at the top part of the one-sheet:

Not only do they list the credits of the director above the film's title (a practice that is relatively common with big-name directors), but then they go ahead and spell it out for you one more time who directed it, in font letters nearing the size of the movie.

Along with that are the new television adverts that show clips of the movie intercut with clips from a Mel Gibson sit-down interview, where he gives quick soundbites (in an eerily manipulated higher-pitched voice than usual) referring to the general theme and intent behind the movie. Nowhere is there any mention of the actual story of the movie, since they're basically just selling Mel Gibson.

Don't get me wrong, the movie's trailer (which thankfully doesn't include the staged Gibson interview) looks good enough that I want to see it in the theater, but this ad campaign is an odd move by Tombstone.

Do you think they where going with this idea all along, and are just hoping that enough news cycles have passed by since Gibson's drunken rant so that now people are more focused on Kramer's racism and Britney Spears flashing her vagina? Or is this a shrewd move to milk some more publicity out of the Gibson rant, hoping people will see it, curious to how many Jews his lead character kills?

If only Kramer's rants would have happened a few weeks ago, not so near the Seinfeld - Season 7 DVD release. They could add blurbs like "Banned by Jesse Jackson!!!" or "As seen on TMZ.com!!!" or "Endorsed by the KKK!!!"