Inspired by this thread.
Which TVs or Movies have ostentatiously avoided product placement, and why?
The one that stands out in my mind is Nero Wolfe – he used made-up brands often, and consistently. Wolfe drove (or rather, was chauffered around in) a Heron sedan. The guns used and the locks picked all had brand names that didn’t exist in the Real World. (Curiously, though, he described real radio shows) When Robert Goldsborough continued the series after Rex Stout’s death he also made up brands (Cherokee and Americherry , both cherry-based sodas).
When I first saw Ghostbusters I noticed that Sigourney Weaver , in unpacking her groceries, had out a package of “Sta-Puft” Marshmallows, with the label clearly displayed, and i knew it would turn out to be important to the plot. But I’ve always wondered why they didn’t get a real marshmallow brand, like Kraft’s or Campfire. Did no one want to be associated with a giant killer marshmallow?
Inspired by this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6212631#post6212631
Repo Man is the classic example of this. The filmmakers didn’t even make up fake brand names; instead, food is labelled “FOOD” and so forth.
The Simpsons has Duff Beer, Buzz Cola, Itchy and Scratchy Land and plenty of others.
On Roseanne, most of the groceries were Ralphs brand, but with the logo colored in; instead of the name in an oval, it was just a red oval.
In The Sixth Sense, the cleaning product the mom puts in the girl’s soup was a non-existent brand. I daresay the producers didn’t even ask any manufacturers for permission to use their name.
In Goodfellas, when Lois, the courier, calls her connection, the airline logo on her ticket is covered by a censorship bar. The producers of that film did ask for permission, and not one airline would grant it.
In Clerks, customers only ask for “cigarettes”: no brands mentioned. I think, like M. Night, Kevin Smith didn’t even ask; who would want their brand associated with the “Death merchant!” scene?
In Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Victor Buono pours himself corn flakes from a box with no brand name on it.
In TV commercials in the 50s and 60s, advertisers made it a point never to mention a competitor’s name. Hence, the ubiquitous “Brand X” when making a point. It even extended to non-brand-names: “the high-priced spread” for butter, “A” to represent aspirin in Bufferin commercials, and “greasy kid’s stuff” to indicate hair pomade. Nowadays, ads just come out and mention the competition when a comparison is made.
You’ll also see various TV commercials nowadays that feature football players in generic uniforms. Using NFL logos requires a fee and some advertisers don’t want to pay.
Older movies rarely used actual brand names. In Christmas in July, for instance, Dick Powell worked for Baxter Coffee Co., and wrote a slogan for Maxford Coffee.
How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying set up the World Wide Widget Company, and Thomas Pynchon created Yoyodyne Corp. in his novels V. and Gravity’s Rainbow (the name was later used in Buckaroo Banzai as a reference to Pynchon). In both cases, it was useful to create a fictional company.
In QT films, you’ll always find Red Apple brand cigarettes.
The X-Files’s Cancer Man always smoked Morley cigarettes (which were packaged a lot like Marlboros.)
Oceanic Airlines is used in many films/tv shows where a disaster is featured (Lost, Executive Decision)
I’m going to Wally World!
National Lampoon’s Vacation would never get permission to use the Mouse, of course.
Lots of shows go the route of covering up one letter in a product name, which I always thought was hilarious. I get they don’t want to give free advertising, but is anyone not going to be able to figure out the “EVER AST” bag the boxer is punching is an EverLast? Or that the refreshing CO A COLA being enjoyed by the secretary is a Coke?
If I were to produce a movie or TV show, I’d go this route but only with products whose names make another word with letters removed. Delicious SP ITE anyone?
The movie Dick Tracy was all about generics, along with primary colors.
MythBusters regularly repackage (or relabel) products used in their tests. Anything requiring a can or beer or soda is relabeled MythBusters Cola or MythBusters Beer. Likewise with various aerosol or canned to-be-baked goods.
-DF
I imagine most animated movies, if products are involved, wouldn’t bother with drawing/modeling real-world brands. The notable exception might be Dreamworks, since Shrek 2 and Shark Tale use parodies of real-world brands as background jokes.
Hmmmm – you make me think. Cartoon artists are unable to resist a good joke. So, unless the name is funny in its own right (In Who Framed Roger Rabbit the oven in the opening cartoon is a “Hotternell” – a joke on Tex Avery’s “Coldernell, Alaska” in “The Shooting of Dan McGoo”), they’ll make it a parody. Chuck Jones has Sniffles the Mouse drinking coffee from a can of “Haxwell Mouse” coffee, for instance. I’ll bet there are plenty of such parody brands in caroons and cartoon movies.
There’s another reason for putting famous athletes in generic uniforms; in the age of trades and free agency, having the star wear a generic uniform assures the advertiser that the commercial can continue to run even if the athlete in question is traded or signs with another team.Rachel Ray’s “30-Minute Meals” on Food Network also makes use of fake brand names. Just about every ingredient she uses has been relabeled (and quite skillfully, IMHO).
Dan’s beer was Bud, with the word “Budweiser” replaced with “Beer.” And I remember them drinking “Shasa” cola.
While we’re on the subject of cartoons, what about all the fine products from Acme?
One of the common rules of movies and TV shows is whenever you see an airplane, train, ship, bus, or car rental service with a fictional company name, something really bad is going to happen involving said airplane, train, ship, bus, or car rental service (e.g., “Welcome to Marathon.”
In Episode #59 of The Brady Bunch, the family is invited to do a commercial for Safe laundry detergent, but initially hesitates after Mike remembers Carol had switched from Safe to Best.
In the video for Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl, a billboard seen at the end features Christie Brinkley (Joel’s then-wife, who plays the title character) as a model for Uptown Cosmetics.
How could we forget the various shows that center around or feature prominently advertising agencies? Every other episode of Bewitched featured a phony product. Bosom Buddies had a lot. Queer as Folk has had several. I can’t quite recall the actual names of any of these phony products at the moment, but they are numerous.
I actually remember a couple of the Bosom Buddies products. There was a Granny Somebody’s cookies (“The coo- coo- cookie sweet and nutty as Granny herself,” was the ad line Henry came up with.) And an awful-tasting mouthwash called Mountain Pine (The jingle: “Mountain Pine, Mountain Pine, I use it all the time!”)
There were also occasional references to fictional products and companies that sponsored the Alan Brady show on the old Dick van Dyke show. Anyone remember Crummy Buttons? (The response to which was invariably, “Bleh.”)