These product placements in movies are so shameless they’re funny

Making films and series is an expensive affair. A deal with a brand comes in handy, of course.

Some brands browse through the millions. For example, Heineken paid an estimated $ 45 million to appear in “Skyfall” for seven seconds and to borrow James Bond for a commercial. The fact that Bond suddenly had to drink beer and not shake or stir a martini was not exactly well received by the fans.

Still, money is money. And then you put a product really big and in the center of the picture so that the moviegoer is in the last row – who actually needs glasses but doesn’t wear them because the correction isn’t that bad and glasses are just in the way – can see it too – not overlooked.

Here are 11 examples of shameless product placement.

Champagne flows like nowhere else at Jay Gatsby’s parties. Moët & Chandon’s bottles look shameless because they were inexplicably huge.

Eleven is obsessed with Eggo waffles. But the ad worked, because after the second season aired in 2017, sales of Eggo waffles increased by 14 percent. The popular show gave the aging brand “cultural relevance,” CNN quotes the Kellogg brand, which owns Eggo, as saying.

The obvious Oreo ad isn’t the only product placement in this “Transformers” movie. A Bud Light beer truck is vandalized and Mark Wahlberg drinks a can from it.

During the film’s climax, Brad Pitt stops to drink a Pepsi. Many viewers found this scene disturbing and inappropriate.

In the “Chuck” series, not only Subway is placed prominently, the fast food chain is also built into the plot. Various characters eat the sandwiches and comment on how good they taste.

In several scenes in “I, Robot,” Will Smith mentions how awesome his brand new vintage 2004 Converse All Stars are and points them to the center of the picture several times.

In “Mick… my friend from the other planet” – a 1988 fantasy film very reminiscent of “ET” – there is a nearly five minute dance scene that takes place in McDonald’s. Even Ronald McDonald is present.

In this 1980s superhero film, the cigarette company Marlboro is mentioned about 20 times. A Marlboro vehicle also features prominently in one scene.

FedEx paid nothing for this product placement, and yet the brand is placed very prominently in the movie because Tom Hanks’ character is a FedEx employee, so it’s part of the story.

The parcel delivery company actually saw a difference in brand awareness after the release of the film. This especially in Europe and Asia, where the company was not really known 20 years ago, writes “The Hollywood Reporter”.

In “ET”, Reese’s candy isn’t just shown, it’s part of the plot. The ad was a resounding success: Reese’s sales tripled within a month.

Fun fact: Steven Spielberg actually wanted M&Ms to appear in “ET”, not Reese’s. But they rejected the deal.

In “Little Nicky,” the scene where Adam Sandler says Popeye’s Chicken is great after their logo fills half the frame feels more like a commercial than a movie scene.

Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael love pizza. The fast food chain Domino’s Pizza paid for the 1990 movie “Turtles” to prominently feature their pizzas.

According to director Colin Trevorrow, the constant product placement in his film should be understood as a critique of the consumer society. But that did not go down well with viewers.

There’s even a compilation of all product placements in this movie called “Product Placement World”:

(cmu)