UPDDATED 2:26 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A.) A YouTube video promotion for the Narc That Car multilevel-marketing (MLM) program appears to use celebrity footage produced by Appian Way Productions, a production company owned by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
The PP Blog attempted to contact DiCaprio for comment through the Screen Actors Guild Friday night. The office was closed for the weekend.
The Narc That Car You Tube promotion references a downline group known as Team Trinity International, and appears to splice in content from a Public Service Announcement (PSA) produced by Appian Way in 2008 that urges Americans to vote.
It was not immediately clear if DiCaprio, his production company or the other celebrities in the PSA approved of the use of the footage in what effectively was a commercial for Narc That Car. Several celebrities appear in the Narc That Car promo.
At the moment, the Team Trinity promo is at this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgLFHH6TaaA&feature=related
The PSA can be seen in this 2008 story from Reuters:
http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/2008/10/02/leonardo-dicaprio-other-celebs-pump-up-youth-vote/
The PSA has nothing to do with MLM. The footage potentially at issue in the Team Trinity video begins at about the 3:40 mark in the PSA and the 0:11 mark in the Narc That Car promo. The PSA’s theme is passing along to friends the worthwhile message of going to the polls, but the Team Trinity video applies the theme to passing along info about Narc That Car.
“I need you to take this and send it to five people,” Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry says in the PSA, referring to sharing the message of going to the polls. Berry says the same thing in the Team Trinity Narc That Car video, but in the context of sharing the Narc That Car message.
Other celebrities who appeared in the PSA are spliced into the Team Trinity MLM message for Narc That Car. The Team Trinity video fades to the Team Trinity logo after comedian-actress Sarah Silverman appears.
In an earlier video, Team Trinity used the logos of 30 famous retail companies, positioning their parking lots as good places to capture license-plate data.
Team Trinity also has referenced the AMBER Alert program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Department denied that Narc That Car had any affiliation with the famous child-protection system.
Narc That Car, which says it is building a database for companies that repossess automobiles, is the subject of inquiries by the Dallas BBB and the district attorney of Henderson County, Texas.