Most infamous product placement
I think the only thing I remember from Mr Deeds is picking up Wendy’s in a helicopter.
Castaway, man.
Just went to a GREAT screening of DARKMAN in my small hometown’s college cinema, where they painstakingly ordered a decent 35mm print only to have me and two friends show up for the $5 ticket price. They did NOT break even, needless to say…unfortunate.
Regardless, they screened old-timey trailers beforehand, and one was for MAC AND ME, which I’d basically forgotten about, mercifully. Anyone remember this? A McDonald’s sponsored HARD CORE rip off of E.T.? I couldn’t recall from the preview alone how much subliminal or not so subliminal McDonald’s promo was slipped into the film, but I sure remember it blowing as a kid when it came out.
Also, NEW MOON had some really bad, really desperate product placement for Burger King, I think. Just a discarded bag on top of a trash can. Not particularly appealing.
And I ROBOT had some terrible stuff like when Will Smith cracks open the vintage Reeboks or vintage Chuck Taylors he’s mail ordered. The vintage shoes were, of course, from 2004 (or whatever year the movie came out). Not clever. Terrible.
MINORITY REPORT also has a bunch of poor product placement. I guess the lesson here is that product placement in sci-fi movies is tricky and typically ends up coming off as incredibly desperate (unless you are Schlitz, Atari, or most awesomely the Cuisinart neon ad in BLADE RUNNER, in which case you win).
This:
The Gods Must Be Crazy
um, BLADE RUNNER and its GIANT commercial billboard for Coca-Cola
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
I think this has the most blatant use of product placement in any movie that I have ever seen. Take the supper seen near the beginning of the movie for example. When Ricky Bobby is praying, he thanks god for all the different products he has, and says that Powerade requires him to mention them in all prayers.
I think its ingenious really, they take advantage of the product placement and blatantly use it as comedy instead of just placing it in the scene. Awesome in my opinion.
-Evolution (2001) ends with a commercial for Head & Shoulders (if not mistaken)
-The Stepford Wives (1975) and the 2004 remake both mention the names of several real companies (The men in the original used to work for Disney and Compu-Tech. While the remake had them work for AOL, Matel and Microsoft)
Josie and the Pussycats – In practically every frame of the film (seriously, not an exaggeration) there is some kind of product placement. It’s actually rather hilarious being that it is intentional.
@raysquirrel – Actually, The Wizard was just as much of an endorsement of the Power Glove as it was Super Mario Bros 3. In the film, when the cocky rich boy pulls out this large case and opens it to reveal the Power Glove, every kid in the world immediately put that at the top of their wish lists. At least that’s how it happened in my town when I was a kid.
“Peeping Tom” is, on some level, a long recurring ad for Bell and Howell’s 70-series 16mm film camera.
Given what the protagonist does with it, I can’t imagine they particularly liked the ‘free press’
Transformers is a 2 hour long product placement.
“total fucking bullshit”
Classic Lynch!!!!!!
That “Rosebud” brand sled in Citizen Kane :)
Cherios in close encounters….
No one here has seen MAC AND ME. The movie is a rip-off of ET sponsored by McDonalds. You will not believe it. They name the alien Mac because he likes Big Macs!
And what was that candy E.T. ate again …???
Yeah, Adam Sandler movies are the worst for this and his endorsement of Popeye’s chicken (“the shizznit”) in Little Nicky (a film so head-scratchingly bad I have a soft spot in my heart for it) is too bizarre for words. Ergo:
Truman, Of course I’ve seen Mac and Me!!!!!!
I was about to go on this thread and post…
MAC AND ME!!!
Seriously though the M&M clips on YouTube are easily my most watched. :)
@Jardun- When you talk about Nascar, you’re talking about product placement, so all the products are part of the joke, Nascar is blatant in its use of “sponsors.”
And as for product placement in general, I think it’s okay, as long as it doesn’t so too far, especially for small independent films. If the producers can promise the characters will drink Coke products, one can get budget money upfront.
>And what was that candy E.T. ate again …???
That would be Reese’s Pieces – Surely this was the Mother Of All Product Placements!
As for Minority Report: the Lexus concept cars used in the film – developed specifically for the film, actually – were hot.
Transformers 1…
the cars …
a moutain dew machine coming to life …
posters of micheal bay’s films ….
THE CARS …
others i can’t think of … i only saw it once and that’s all i need.
pepsi and coca cola i believe are the most prominent ones
Regarding David Lynch, I was half expecting someone to say “Pabst Blue Ribbon!”
But then again, maybe having your product associated with Blue Velvet doesn’t really count as an endorsement…
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.
^ Most Obvious one. :)
The E.T. reeses pieces don’t even compare to Mac and Me. There’s a five minute musical number inside of Mcdonald’s in Mac and Me for god sake.
RaySquirrel
Mr. Deeds
Adam Sandler is well known for the copious amounts of product placement in films. Though this remake of a Frank Capra classic is only memorable for one scene where Sandler rescues a woman from a burning building. Inside the apartment, the only thing on fire appears to be a box of Kellog’s Special K cereal.
Demolition Man
Sylvester Stallone stars as a modern day cop in a futuristic ultra-nanny state. All fatty, salty and greasy foods have been banned and yet Taco Bell is the only restaurant in existence.
The Wizard
The only reason this movie exists is to serve as a commercial for Super Mario Bros. 3 and other Nintendo products. This is probably the only time in the history of both mediums where a crappy movie was made to serve as promotional material for a video game and not the other way around. At least the game is a classic.