I saw an advert on Lovefilm, basically McDonald's waffling on about promoting Avatar. McDonald's are the essence of evil capitalism, wrecking the environment and people's health, yet Cameron let them promote his film.
This implies that Cameron was in a position where could say no to them. Was he? Just because he had free rein to do as he wished with the actual film does not mean he had control over merchandising and tie-ins.
And why not? If you made a propaganda piece to point out the flaws in a certain sector of society, wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if you could get that sector to promote and pay for it?
and if you were part of that sector, wouldn't it be deliciously ironic to promote, pay for, and profit from the piece?
No. There's no part of being a successful businessman which means you can't care about the environment.