On the cusp of No Reservations' Brooklyn Episode, the series finale for the show, Anthony Bourdain lays out the beef he has with Travel Channel for blatantly including a series of shots involving a Cadillac sedan with the final episode's promo. In the post from Bourdain's personal Tumblr, he goes into detail about his commitment to resisting any commercial endorsements throughout his career as a travel show host. There were a few instances where the show or he had personally endorsed some products, but this intentional pairing of Bourdain with the Cadillac went too far especially because it misleads viewers into thinking the cars were used for the show. After the show's premiere, Bourdain tweeted a number of vehement statements against Travel Channel for profiting from this purported endorsement.
Near the end of the long post, Bourdain points out Travel Channel's use of various clips and content to string together a few extra episodes, saying it's within the network's contractual agreement to "butcher our painstakingly shot and edited footage as they choose. It's something of a creative signature of the new guard at Travel, best I can tell—to cynically and cheaply "repurpose" existing material to create additional 'content'. He goes onto the promise repercussions for associating Bourdain and his show with Cadillac: "But I CAN do something when my name and image (such as they are) are used to sell a product without my consent and in violation of prior specific and well crafted legal agreements. And I intend to."
Video: No Reservations Promo, Featuring Cadillac
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