how come?

beer signs

Probably three reasons. First the movie was shot at the Oakland Coliseum. In that shot you'll notice the hill in the background that was stripped mined. That's a Oakland landmark. So the blur may have been put in place to hid the stadium name. Second, there were probably billboard sponsors who did not pay the producers to have their product featured so the producers probably blurred it. Finally, this is a "family" movie so I'm willing to bet that the billboard sponsor was alcohol related. What wants a big Bud billboard in the background of the movie. I bet someone required that it be blurred to avoid problems.

I saw the same thing today. I strongly believe that they were Coca-Cola billboards (red background with the white swoosh symbol.) I believe this for two reasons:

First of all - Disney has tremendous control over their environment when filming. There simply wouldn't BE beer or cigarette ads anywhere within camera sightlines. Ergo, nothing to blur later.

Second: there were several verbal mentions of Coke. If there was product-placement in the dialogue, you can bet it was in the background too. (speaking of product placement, did you catch the blatant Oscar Meyer truck during the little league game?)

The question is - what happened to their product placement contract to make them blur it out? Perhaps there is a pre-existing agreement that says no Coke ads on the disney channel? or they had a limitation on the number of times or ways it could be seen?

Ridiculous theories, I know, but our legal system is bizarre and polluted in many ways - why not screw around with product placement contracts, too?

If anyone has this on DVD - please let me know if the billboards are visible on the disc!!! I bet they are. I think this is a Disney Channel blur, and not a full-on edit.