Sony Pulls R-Rated Trailer Off Web Site

Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has suffered a series of marketing embarrassments this summer, removed an R-rated trailer for the upcoming film “Not Another Teen Movie” from the Internet on Thursday at the request of the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

The trailer, which contains partial nudity and foul language, has appeared on Sony’s Redbandtrailer.com Web site since Saturday, a Sony spokeswoman said.

MPAA regulations prohibit the showing of R-rated trailers on the Internet, an attempt to prevent underage children from viewing adult-themed material.

The MPAA had approved the trailer for theaters showing R-rated movies, but it did not green-light it for the Internet, said MPAA President Jack Valenti.

“We called Sony and in five minutes the trailer was down,” Valenti said Thursday.

“Not Another Teen Movie” is a spoof of teen movies produced by Neil Moritz. It is slated to open in December.

The Sony spokeswoman said the company wasn’t aware of the MPAA regulations, and that company officials thought they were being responsible by showing it on Redbandtrailer.com and keeping it off of Sony’s regular trailer site, Sony.com.

The studio plans to produce a G-rated trailer of the movie to be shown on the Sony.com site.

The MPAA rules violation follows other marketing blunders at Sony. Earlier this summer, Sony was widely criticized for inventing a fake film critic to hype the studio’s films in advertisements. In addition, the studio also admitted to using employees in man-on-the-street testimonials in television advertisements.