well, let's look at it this way. The Phantom Menace had alot of merchandizing because guess what? it was the return to Star Wars. it was a big -blam!- deal. Episode II, however, saw very little merchandizing in comparison. But what do we have now? the last Star Wars that will be made? yes, again, we have a big -blam!- deal. personally, i love it when movies do things like the slurpee cups and the pepsi cans that the Phantom Menace did. i see it less as advertising and more as an acknowledgment of film as a much more broad aspect of culture. honestly, who is going to decide to see Ep. III just because of their slurpee cup? it's more than just advertising.