Costco and Disney’s Ratatouille Wine Broke Advertising Rules

Cross-promotion of films is nothing new; virtually every major summer blockbuster has a fast food tie-in at a major restaurant chain. For the final three films in the series, they even offered salad in bags with Star Wars logos. In light of this, Disney's attempt to collaborate with Costco in 2007 to promote the film Ratatouille wasn't absurd.

What the two businesses decided to do in this situation was the issue with the relationship. They made wine with the Ratatouille logo. It wasn't crazy because the movie was about a rat chef. However, it was against the 1949-established Wine Institute advertising standards.

The entire idea was against wine advertising regulations even though there were 500 cases of chardonnay available to be sold as cartoon rat wine. A cartoon rat from a blockbuster animated film is hardly more enticing to children than plastering it on a label, yet their rule forbids any advertising that could be seen as appealing to children. Despite the fact that the winery was French and not subject to the regulations that are exclusive to California, the plan had to be abandoned.