Product placement is so prevalent in films, hardly anybody notices anymore. What's a Coke here and a GM truck there among fans?But every once and awhile a director or movie is so egregious that you feel that you've stepped into a shopping mall, not a theatre.
Cracked has put together a list of the 10 Most Shameless Product Placements in Movie History, including films such as ET, Transformers and Minority Report. They got it right, expect for Michael Bay's The Island, which only landed at #3 on the list whereas it should have topped the list with ease.
I saw it with a group of friends three years ago and we laughed throughout it. It's not a comedy. Aside from the bad script and terrible acting there was product after product, ad after ad: AmEx, Speedo, Cadillac, Microsoft MSN, Ben & Jerry's, Apple, Mack trucks, Chevrolet, Budweiser, Michelob, Nokia, TAG Heuer and Calvin Klein, to name a few
But see for yourself and then check out the rest of the list.
Actually, I am surprised Superman II didn't make the top ten. There is Superman hurling Zod into a Coke sign and there are at least 22 times that the Marlboro logo appears in the film. Kentucky Fried Chicken and Omni Magazine were also plugged. The scene in which, in the space of five minutes, Zod throws Superman into a Marlboro truck, a sign advertising Cutty Sark appears, and Superman throws Zod into a Coca Cola sign, still amazes me at its sheer audacity of product placement.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it slips under the radar by being filmed before the public had become aware of product placement. Do you think it's possible that this was just a case of a director using real products to create a real situation or is that just naive?
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