Not sure if that qualifies as product placement since DeLorean was out of business two years before the first movie came out. Product as icon maybe, but DeLorean wasn’t trying to get their product placed. The producers said they picked it because John DeLorean was in the news due to his drug arrest, and the stainless steel finish looked cool.
Since we’re hijacked: I’m reminded of the bar on Babylon 5 with the prominent “Zima” logo on the wall behind it. JMS claims he did it as a joke, knowing how unlikely it would be for Zima to be the “drink of the future”. According to Wikipedia you can still buy it in Japan but that’s about it.
Movies Which Had Prominent Product Placement for Now-Defunct Companies
2001 - PanAm logos on the Space Planes
The Garage (1920)- Red Crown Gasoline logo
Toy Story - the Slinky
Etch-a-Sketch saw a 4500% boost. Slinkys were no longer being produced because they weren’t profitable. Post-Toy Story, Slinky received 20,000 orders, which revitalized the company. Mr. Potato Head sales jumped 800%.
Will this do? If not, I give up. It’s a tough category to Google.
Movies Which Had Prominent Product Placement for Now-Defunct Companies
2001 - PanAm logos on the Space Planes
The Garage (1920)- Red Crown Gasoline logo
Toy Story - the Slinky
American Beauty - Pontiac
Blade Runner (1982) - Bell Telephone Company.
Horse Feathers - Life Savers
I don’t know if it can be considered a modern-style ‘product placement’; more like an obvious joke that Groucho couldn’t pass up just because it involved a brand name.
According to Wikipedia, James Industries had stopped manufacturing Slinky Dogs several years before 1995, when Toy Story was released. There was a brief additional run of the toy that year for the movie but then it went back out of production.
Now while I don’t want to say Wikipedia is a bad source, I did a follow-up check on Amazon and verified you can readily buy a Slinky Dog (or a regular Slinky).
Movies Which Had Prominent Product Placement for Now-Defunct Companies
2001 - Pan Am logos on the Space Planes
The Garage (1920)- Red Crown Gasoline logo
Toy Story - the Slinky
American Beauty - Pontiac
Blade Runner (1982) - Bell Telephone Company.
Horse Feathers - Life Savers
The Man with the Golden Gun - AMC automobiles
Rocky IV - Brown & Williamson Cigarettes
Blade Runner - Atari
The Matrix - Nokio 8110
Okay, Nokio is still around (and I just learned they’re a Finnish corporation rather than a Japanese one as I had assumed). But they no longer make the 8110 model. And this is a tough category so let’s end it.