We can take a joke, really we can, and the movie "Wedding Crashers," about two ethics-challenged guys who use various ruses to attend the weddings of strangers in order to meet and bed lovely women, is unusually funny, as raunchy comedies go. But as has happened before, some over-zealousness in the PR department has created a "Wedding Crashers" web site that has turned a joke into something unpleasant…and unethical.

In the movie, the character played by Vince Vaughn reveals some useful props for their wedding reception chicanery: phony purple heart medals, guaranteed to impress the girls.

That's fine: outrageousness can be funny, and the movie makes it clear that such tasteless posing is outrageous. The web site, however, presents the fake Purple Hearts as part of a "Wedding Crasher Kit," and especially for those who have not seen the film, the idea could become contagious.

Veteran groups have complained to New Line Productions, who released the film, and their complaints have generated the predictable response of "Can't you take a joke?" For veterans, however, Purple Hearts are no laughing matter; their sensitivity should be respected, just as it should have been anticipated. Reducing the significance of the medals for being wounded by hostile action in the course of military service to the fact that "no bartender will say no to free drinks" for those who have them, as the web site does, is hurtful and insulting to servicemen and women who got their purple hearts in exchange for their health and gallantry. "Carrying a Purple Heart in your pocket guarantees you attention, admiration, and plenty of free booze," the site states on a page where you can print out your own "Purple Heart." We strongly suspect that this campaign was dreamed up and approved by people whose sole experience with military service came courtesy of an Xbox joystick, if at all.

Using purple heart medals as a springboard for humor is a dicey proposition at best. The film manages to pull it off, but the promotional web site blurs the key distinction between outrageous deception and harmless prank. Faking these solemn medals is not the latter. Veterans have a legitimate complaint, and the "Wedding Crashers" web site should stop sending the message that Purple Hearts are nothing more than free drink tickets and babe magnets. Whatever the original intent might have been, the result of the site's treatment of the medals is disrespectful, and it appears to condone fraud.

And it's not even funny.

UPDATE: The same day this was written, New Line removed the fake Purple Heart component of the "Wedding Crashers" web site. In announcing the move, New Line Cinema spokesman Richard Socarides said "We understand the sensitivity regarding the medals and did not intend to make light of their significance in any way."