The American film, "A Million Ways to Die in the West", has recently come under fire for its Vietnamese ad campaign, which includes language deemed to be vulgar by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Because the centre runs under the auspices of the ministry, they are held accountable for the film release as well as its advertisements.
A leaflet promoting the movie in Vietnam.
Concern grew after the ministry was informed that leaflets promoting the movie were being handed out to children. The campaign, handled by a South Korean PR firm, included questionable illustrations and captions such as, "Death during sex is sudden" and "Show your tool and ejaculate".
There are questionable illustrations and captions in the back of the leaflet.
Despite attempts made to contact the advertisement agency, reporters have yet to get any response from the company.
According to Phan Dinh Tan, spokesman for the ministry, these illustrations and captions clearly violate Vietnamese regulations. "We will ask the National Cinema Centre to cease the current ad campaign and to send an official explanation as to why this incident was allowed to occur. After receiving the reply, we will consider punishments for responsible individuals," he added.
The film has attained a considerable amount of success in the West, and features well-known celebrities such as Liam Neeson, Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Therone. The controversy over the film in Vietnam seems to be over the campaign rather than the plot.
