The most shameless product placement seen in a movie. (and ruins the movie for you)

Thanks for all the replies!

As Bad News Baboon mentions I don’t mind incidental real products appearing in movies, but the key word is “incidental”:

The ads in Superman and James Bond are perfect examples that show some adman or producer deciding to tweak a movie like this:

“Here is the scene were the product appears… Wait! I think the audience will miss it! Show it in a full frame, wait!! That is not good enough, show it for several seconds, wait!!! Show it again from a different angle!!!” :smack: <— (How you feel on the movie theater after seeing the end result)

In the James Bond movies, the product will appear from all angles! Specially If it is a car (even from the underside!) (Apropos: this is why one of my most enjoyable moments of the Bond movies is in For Your Eyes Only*: after the baddies blow up the Lotus (He barely used it!), James escapes in a very pitiful looking beat up generic (!) mini car and still manages to do the same amazing stunts!

OTOH, just like Guin, I did love the Wayne’s World scene:

Kane – “I know, but it’s not your choice.”
Wayne – “Yes, but it’s the choice of the next generation (drinks from Pepsi can)”

Wayne - “little, yellow, and different”… :smiley: (Guess the sponsor!)

Hmm. I agree with you on the James Bond thing. The BMW was much too blatant.

Spiderman - I have to agree with rjung, I remembered him jumping on top of the truck, but not what kind of truck it was. Maybe I’m not the (subconscious) target audience.

And the FedEx thing: Whenever I see the FedEx logo now I think of planes crashing. That’s not a Good Thing, I suppose. So I sure as heck wouldn’t have paid for that “product placement”.

Just watched “Mission To Mars” tonight. Not a great movie. The floating Dr. Pepper pouch that the product is squeezed out of and saves the crew by floating towards the leak in the spaceship was totally over the top.

According to the commentary on the DVD, FedEx wasn’t paid for the use of their logo. The creators wanted an authentic look, and felt that a made up courier company would have looked bad and been distracting.

Except if you are not in America and they become Pizza Hut:

http://uk.imdb.com/Trivia?0106697

Of course Fed Ex wasn’t paid - it was most likely the other way around. They paid the producers for the product placement.

One that really bugs me is in Dogma. Near the end of the movie, they’re all in a bar and whenever they cut to Jason Lee, behind him on the wall, there is a perfectly placed blinking neon Budweiser sign. It’s completely out of place and the framing of the shot is SOOO not subtle.

I like Kevin Smith, but JEEZ, that’s bad!!

How about in Austion Powers 3 when Fran or whatever her name is visits the prison to see Dr. Evil and she sets the Taco Bell bag down right in front of the camera.

How about the Pan-Am logo in 2001?

According to the IMDB, Die Another Day was financed mostly by its product placement deals ($120 million of its $142 million budget).

Return of the Killer Tomatoes.

If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.

Speaking of Mission to Mars, I’ve got an even worse example: the M&M ads. The worst is a shot near the end of the film, in the middle of what is supposed to be an emotional series of flashbacks, where Jerry O’Connell is shown actually holding up a bag of M&Ms to the camera and cheerfully waving it at the audience. It only lasts a second or two, but it nearly had me falling out of my chair laughing. Then I recovered and realized how sad and pathetic it really was.

I’m going to second Dooku on his mention of The Thomas Crown Affair. I seem to remember my jaw dropping at the scene where the museum guards are scoping him out on the security cameras, talking about how he looks like he’s mind-bogglingly rich or whatever, and something like the following occurs:

Guard 1: Hey, zoom in on his watch!
(screen cuts to security camera view, full screen shot of watch)
Guard 2: Oh my god! It’s an Omega!
All other guards whistle, gasp and make comments about how amazing the watch is, with said watch taking up the entire screen for the whole time.

That, my friends, is disgusting. Does anyone else remember seeing that, or have I exaggerated it in my mind to a ludicrous degree?

LC

I’m surprised that no one has still mentioned the GREATEST PRODUCT PLACEMENT in a recent movie, and at the same time is the greatest ruining for a movie:

Head & Shoulders in Evolution

What was Ivan Reitman thinking? Was he prostituted by H&S? It seems as if the entire sci-fi script was written only to announce a shampoo! Maybe I would have liked it!

Mac and Me.

The dialogue is something like this: (I love opportunities to show off my knowledge of Wayne’s World)

Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe): …the fact is, he’s the sponsor. And you signed a contract guaranteeing him certain concessions, one of them being a spot on the show

Wayne (eating Doritoes): That’s where I see things just a little differently. Contract or no, I will not bow to any sponsor.

Benjamin: I’m sorry you feel that way, but frankly, it’s the nature of the beast

Wayne: Maybe I’m wrong on this one, but for me, the beast doesn’t include selling out (opens up pizza hut box with logo towards camera). Garth, you know what I’m talking about, right?

Garth (dressed all in Reebok gear): It’s like people only do things because they get paid. And that’s just really sad

Wayne: I can’t take this any more. It’s giving me a headache

Garth (holding up bottle of Nuprin): Here, take two of these

Wayne: Ahh, Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Different.

Benjamin: You can stay in the big leagues and play by the rules, or you can go back to the farm club in Aurora. It’s your choice.

Wayne: (holding up can of Pepsi) Yes. And it’s the choice of a new generation.

I wish I could think of any products other than Coca Cola right now, but in Ghostbusters, when Peter comes to check out Dana’s kitchen and fridge, there’s a ton of product placement.

Actually now that I’m really thinking of it, it’s throughout the whole movie. Aren’t they eating a box of Cheez-its or something when interviewing Rick Moranis’ character?

One thing that’s been really annoying me lately is the saturation coverage of Apple home computers in films and televison programmes. Every single office, school, home, government department, university or what not seems to have the latest up to date products with gigantic TFT screens proudly displaying the little apple icon. No country is this well funded.

It’s bordering on the ridiculous when a down and out poor adopted school kid has a $4000 set up or a police officer is using the latest computer designed specifically for creative applications to write his case notes or the house wife just whips out her new slimline powerbook for something as pointless as teh grocery list.

The worst case of this is obviously has to be the crazy omni Apple universe created in Independence Day where every single person on the planet uses their hardware and their software is able to connect to extra terestrial technology saving humanity.

Just watch out for Apple products they are everywhere!!!

It’s a successful Apple plot: get the Hollywood folks to drink the Mac Kool-Aid and you no longer have to pay for good product placement :slight_smile:

It’s true of a lot of print-media ads too.

One of the earliest examples I can remember was a TV show from the 60’s. I think it was The FBI with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., but it might have been Hawaii Five-O (or maybe the old Dragnet series).

I do remember that every car on every street was a Ford. And the closing credits stated that automobiles were provided by Ford Motor Co.