Dior is releasing an online-exclusive documentary featuring French actress Marion Cotillard, who also starred in the luxury brand's 2011 branded entertainment foray, titled "The Lady Noire Affair." That short film noir spoof, featuring a black Lady Dior handbag and matching accessories in a co-starring role, helped make Lady Dior a sub-brand in its own right — and the handbag of choice of North Korean first lady Ri Sol Ju.

There are a lot of product "placements" in Contagion, logos and names that appear in passing, backgrounds and without a great degree of consequence. A crack about Taco Bell here, a Mazda, Audi, or Chevy logo there. But there are really only two or three "brands" that find themselves the focus of the film, and one of them has genuine reason to be sick about the slanderous way Contagion portrays it.

"The Minnesota Department of Health was not officially involved with the film in any way," John Stieger, the department's communications director, told brandchannel. If you've seen the new #1 movie at the US box office, that shouldn't come as a surprise.Continue reading...