# How exactly did movie product placement work before the 90's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308 "2018-03-28T01:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308/41 "2018-03-29T17:53:51Z")
Here is a study done of Tobacco product placement: > **[How the tobacco industry built its relationship with Hollywood](https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/11/suppl_1/i81)** > > Objective: To describe the development of the relationship between the tobacco industry and the entertainment industry. > > Methods: Review of previously secret tobacco industry documents available on the internet. > > Results: Both the entertainment and... "…_Results: Both the entertainment and tobacco industries recognised the high value of promotion of tobacco through entertainment media. The 1980s saw undertakings by four tobacco companies, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds (RJR), American Tobacco Company, and Brown and Williamson to place their products in movies. RJR and Philip Morris also worked to place products on television at the beginning of the decade. Each company hired aggressive product placement firms to represent its interests in Hollywood. These firms placed products and tobacco signage in positive situations that would encourage viewers to use tobacco and kept brands from being used in negative situations. At least one of the companies, RJR, undertook an extensive campaign to hook Hollywood on tobacco by providing free cigarettes to actors on a monthly basis. Efforts were also made to place favourable articles relating to product use by actors in national print media and to encourage professional photographers to take pictures of actors smoking specific brands. …"_ ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308/42 "2018-03-29T19:00:28Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > the yalso tend to cover up brands that are regional …like on the original Roseanne all their food was the ralphs store brand … > > Theres not a ralphs grocery store past Nevada let alone in Illinois … Not always. In the 1965 film **Good Neighbor Sam** , Jack Lemmon plays a San Francisco-based ad executive who has a [Rainier Beer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainier_Brewing_Company) poster prominently displayed in his office even though Rainier Beer was sold only in the Pacific Northwest during the 60s. And then there’s **Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle** in which the titular fast-found place is a chain mostly limited to the Upper Midwest and the Northeast of the US. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308/43 "2018-03-29T19:11:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > That’s actually from\* Superman II\* which I think also had an awkward product placement for Cellophane. My apologies for the mistake. The real question I have for the Superman movies is how much \*The Daily Planet \*paid for the free advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308/44 "2018-03-29T20:34:35Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > My apologies for the mistake. The real question I have for the Superman movies is how much \*The Daily Planet \*paid for the free advertising. Or how Lois Lane could afford that fantastic apartment on a reporter’s salary. The _Planet_ must manage its finances really really well or really really badly. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308/45 "2018-03-29T23:15:51Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > And then there’s **Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle** in which the titular fast-found place is a chain mostly limited to the Upper Midwest and the Northeast of the US. …and didn’t mind admitting that most of their customers were stoned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-exactly-did-movie-product-placement-work-before-the-90s/811308.md?page=2)