Here’s a controversy that isn’t quite as blatant and ridiculous as the one surrounding Anthropologie‘s super-racist candlestick but still serves as an interesting case study in badly planned promotional campaigns.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Assocation (NECA), a company that makes toy lines based on film properties, recently decided to pull a line of action figures based on Quentin Tarantino‘s current spaghetti western/slave revolt blockbuster Django Unchained. Why? Because most of the black characters are slaves–and some of the white ones are slave masters. This didn’t sit so well with some.

We haven’t seen the movie and we don’t want to get into the debate over the film’s very liberal use of “the n-word”, but we are a little baffled by the very concept of toy lines from a Tarantino film (though we wouldn’t mind having a little 7-inch version of Tim Roth’s Reservoir Dogs character on our desk).

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After weeks of doing battle with the Motion Picture Association of America over the R rating of the new documentary Bully, the Association and the filmmakers have compromised in order to get the PG-13 rating that The Weinstein Company wanted.

With some editing and rule bending, the film got the coveted rating, just in time for its wide release this coming weekend. To get the PG-13 designation, a couple of uses of the F-word were edited out, though others remain in the movie, specifically, in a bullying scene on a school bus. MPAA rules usually dictate that two F-words will earn a movie the R rating.

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A few weeks ago, we reported on The Weinstein Company’s efforts to have the R rated on its new documentary Bully overturned. Unfortunately, the company’s efforts were unsuccessful. But the whole situation may have only added to the buzz and anticipation surrounding the film, which opens today in New York and Los Angeles.

Unable to overturn the Motion Picture Association of America’s absurd decision (Hunger Games, in which a 12-year-old is speared to death is PG-13), The Weinstein Company is releasing it unrated.

Some major movie theaters have agreed to allow teens to view the film, with certain caveats. Celebs have been tweeting about the movie, have made PSAs, and otherwise bringing attention to the issue. And the media has flocked to the cause, reviewing the movie favorably and covering the making of the film extensively. (We were so happy to see this Nightly News segment and find out that one of the stars of the movie is now living elsewhere and loving life.)

While many are questioning the MPAA’s system, ultimately it’s the movie that could suffer. And that would be a shame.

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Margaret Shubny has joined GolinHarris in Chicago, filling a new executive director role. She will be leading several accounts in the healthcare practice as part of the firm’s “Catalyst” group. Shubny was most recently MD of Burson-Marsteller’s healthcare practice.

The Women at NBCU advisory board has six new members: Julie Eddleman, marketing director for North American media and shopper marketing at P&G; Annie Young-Scrivner, global CMO of Starbucks and president of Tazo; Fiona Morrison, who was most recently director of brand and advertising for JetBlue Airways; Susan Whiting, vice chair at Nielsen, responsible for client relations and marketing; Sarah Greenberg Roberts, head of publicity at The Weinstein Company; and Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN. Women at NBCU is the female-targeted marketing and research initiative at NBC.

Allison + Partners has named Trudi Boyd GM of the firm’s Washington D.C. office, helping to build the public affairs practice and managing growth and client service for the office. She previously spent 14 years at FTI Consulting, most recently serving as MD of the Health and Life Science practice.

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<a Entertainment firm ID PR has announced a number of new hires and executive-level promotions. Among them, Dani Weinstein (no relation) and Sara Serlen, former PR executives at The Weinstein Company, have joined the firm as SVP and VP, respectively. They will continue to rep The Weinstein Company on a number of their titles and work on film release campaigns, including The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. Weinstein will work out of the New York office.

In addition, the firm has promoted Carrie Byalick, Jodi Gottlieb and BeBe Lerner to SVP positions. Also in New York, the firm has hired Randi Peck as a VP in entertainment and brand strategies and Rhett Usry as a senior publicist focused on music.

[Press release via Deadline Hollywood. Image from "The Company Men" via IMDB.]