# Most awkward product placement **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [October 10, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020 "2022-10-10T16:47:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/21 "2022-10-10T19:29:03Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I feel like the one that started it all was the Heroes Nissan Versa placement. That’s the first one I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/22 "2022-10-10T19:30:28Z")
Quentin Tarantino has pushed the Big Kahuna Burger chain in several of his movies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/23 "2022-10-10T19:31:34Z")
Let’s also not forget Pizza Planet! ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/24 "2022-10-10T19:35:40Z")
While we are going down this path, who can forget the over-the-top pushing of Brawndo, the Thirst Mutilator! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/25 "2022-10-10T19:45:04Z")
It’s got electrolytes! You know product placement has gone too far when the Department of Agriculture is putting your product on crops. _Idiocracy_ did somewhat show a world where product placement could potentially be apocalyptic. So that’s actually a great mention. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/26 "2022-10-10T20:06:37Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Back in the 60s, Ford insisted on product placement on _The FBI._ The heroes always drove Fords and the villains never did. Ford even took the slogan “Ford is a Better Idea” from the show The _Mad Magazine_ satire described a case where the criminal was sentenced to 99 years in prison “which was reduced to six months for having the good taste to use a Mustang as the get-away car.” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/27 "2022-10-10T20:25:24Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > but at one point in the show _Bones_, they kept devoting portions of episodes to being car commercials. I think it must be a David Boreanaz thing. On his current show _SEAL Team_, they always make a point of showing him driving the latest GMC full-size pickup, and in one or two episodes, have had the nifty tailgate features in use. Generally I’m not so annoyed with product placement, as long as it’s subtle. Like say… having a character wear a certain brand of sneakers, or show billboards in the background/locations in the background. Or even like in say, _Stranger Things_ where Eleven crushes a Coke can. It was clearly product placement, but at least plausible product placement, as Coke was the market leader at the time within the show. But it is kind of annoying when the show is as blatant about it as say… _White Collar_ was, when they’d have a character driving some new Ford vehicle, cut to commercial, and literally have that SAME vehicle advertised. Or vice-versa- advertise, then first scene back would involve the car. I don’t recall if it was the same color and everything, but I wouldn’t be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/28 "2022-10-10T20:26:38Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think it must be a David Boreanaz thing. On his current show _SEAL Team_, they always make a point of showing him driving the latest GMC full-size pickup, and in one or two episodes, have had the nifty tailgate features in use. He was an executive producer (pretty common thing on long-running shows for the top-billed stars). So who knows, maybe it was his idea originally. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/29 "2022-10-10T20:27:57Z")
Some of the examples make the product placements on _The Truman Show_ (the in-universe show) look subtle. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/30 "2022-10-10T20:37:01Z")
Old-time radio used a lot of awkward product placements. _The Burns and Allen Show_ had announcer Bill Goodman come by and start talking about Swan Soap or Maxwell House Coffee in clunky bits ot dialog. “Would you want some coffee, Bill?” “Would I? I’d love some Maxwell House coffee. It’s good to the last drop, you know.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/31 "2022-10-10T20:39:30Z")
On those early radio and TV shows, wasn’t there typically only one sponsor per episode? Or the same single sponsor for the entire run of the show? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/32 "2022-10-10T20:45:56Z")
Radio often had a single sponsor, sometimes with their name in the title (e.g., _The Chase and Sandborn Show starring Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy_). Early TV shows were sponsored by advertisers (_The Colgate Comedy Hour_), though the ads were kept separate from the show. Sometimes two sponsors would share a show; one would get two commercials and the other , Alternate sponsor, would have one. The next week, the alternate sponsor would have two and the first week’s sponsor would have one. The sponsor produced the show. The networks phased out this type of sponsorship (The _Kraft Music Hall_ was probably the last). The argument was that it prevented sponsor interference, but the main reason was that by selling commercial time to multiple advertisers, the networks made more money. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/33 "2022-10-10T20:56:38Z")
It just occurred to me that nobody mentioned _Sesame Street_! They’d have an episode brought to you by the letter K, and then they’d inevitably have a segment devoted to it. (Someone had to mention this eventually. 🙃) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/34 "2022-10-10T20:59:20Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Green Acres: The Douglas’s began the series driving a Lincoln Continental convertible, painted to look like it had been driven on a dirt road and not washed. In the last few seasons the Lincoln convertible no longer being produced, so they switched to a Mercury convertible. And their county agent Hank Kimball drove a Bronco. There was also the prominent product placement for Hoyt-Clagwell tractors. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/35 "2022-10-10T21:30:39Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > My favorite was in Angie Tribeca. They put a Little Caesar’s ad in the middle of the show. OK, that was even worse than the Hawaii 5-0 Subway ad that @DWMarch beat me to. There was also a pretty blatant one for some smartphone or another (back when that was a Big Deal) in Snakes on a Plane. My favorite, though, was from Iron Man, shortly after he escapes from captivity, and the two things he wants first are a press conference and a burger. The product placement for Burger King was so blatant that it pulled me out of the movie and into thinking about money-grubbing ultra-capitalists… which of course pulled me right back into the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/36 "2022-10-10T21:42:18Z")
What about the horrible, horrible, horrible crime against humanity that was the film _Mac and Me_? They had an extended dance scene in a McDonald’s for a kid’s birthday party that really had nothing to do with the plot of the film. I apologize profusely in advance. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tPgRnFg8ZTU/maxresdefault.jpg "Mac and Me (8/11) Movie CLIP - McDonald's Dance Party (1988) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPgRnFg8ZTU) If for some reason you need to know what’s going on, there is supposed to be an alien disguised as a teddy bear in that scene, the eponymous “Mac”. I will not get into everything wrong with this scene or film, because it will likely hijack the entire thread. Just note that as bad as the movie was, this brought it down even worse. It’s like finding a rotten cheeseburger in your value meal, and there is a severed finger under the cheese. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/37 "2022-10-10T21:49:16Z")
Picking this out for _Leonard Part 6_ is a clear case of piling on, but among the many, many complaints about the movie was the blatant product placement for Coca-Cola. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/38 "2022-10-10T21:57:56Z")
Of course, the entire film Mac and Me was created entirely for the sole purpose of product placement, so… ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/39 "2022-10-10T22:01:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Back in the 60s, Ford insisted on product placement on _The FBI._ The heroes always drove Fords and the villains never did. Ford even took the slogan “Ford is a Better Idea” from the show. It was fairly common back then for all the vehicles on a TV show to be from the same manufacturer as a form of product placement. Everyone on _The Andy Griffith Show_ drove a Ford as well. _The Beverly Hillbillies_ was all Chrysler. But since we’re talking about awkward product placement, _Mr. Ed_ was sponsored by Studebaker, making the show appear to take place in some alternate universe in which Studebakers were the most popular cars. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020/40 "2022-10-10T22:07:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My favorite, though, was from Iron Man, shortly after he escapes from captivity, and the two things he wants first are a press conference and a burger. The product placement for Burger King was so blatant that it pulled me out of the movie and into thinking about money-grubbing ultra-capitalists… which of course pulled me right back into the movie. Eh, I know a lot of people complain about that but I never found it that blatant. It’s just a quick shot that has the bag in it, not even a close up. They never say Burger King or Whopper or anything like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-awkward-product-placement/973020.md?page=3)