Product placement is a common tactic in movies and TV shows—a scene might show what car a character drives, what brand of clothes they’re wearing or what food or drink they’re enjoying. Some brands are willing to pay millions of dollars for mere seconds of screentime, and the arrangement is mutually beneficial. Studios can use it to help fund the film, while companies can say their brand was featured in the latest summer blockbuster all while potentially being introduced to new customers.
10’Josie and the Pussycats'
Target, Tide, Coca-Cola, and more
InJosie and the Pussycats, three female musicians—Josie (Rachael Leigh Cook), Melody (Tara Reid) and Val (Rosario Dawson)—saw their dreams of rock-and-roll stardom come true when they got a record deal. But they quickly discovered they were being used by two people in a plot to deliver subliminal messages to the people of America. The movie was based on the Archie Comics and Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name.
Josie And The Pussycats
9’Wayne’s World'
Doritos, Pizza Hut, Reebok, Nuprin and Pepsi
Wayne’s Worldwasbased on a classicSaturday Night Livesketchand featured a producer determined to take heavy-metal lovers Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey)’s public-access TV show to commercial television. Despite being hesitant to give up their show, they were ultimately tricked into it and then fought to regain creative control of it, all while Wayne also tried to keep the producer from stealing his girlfriend.
Wayne’s World
8’E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'
Reese’s Pieces
An alien became stranded on Earth inE.T.and was found and befriended by a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas), who hid the alien in his home. The two soon developed a strong bond, but as E.T.’s health deteriorated to the point of being close to death, it became clear that the only thing that would help him was going home, and Elliott helped him get there.
E.T.successfully transformed its product placement into part of the story—Reese’s Pieces are E.T.’s favorite candy, used to lure him into Elliott’s house when he first finds E.T. then again to lure E.T. back to the spaceship to go home. Because of this, it’s almost easy to forget the use of the candy is clear product placement. But it was certainly effective, as many associate Reese’s Pieces withE.T.to this day.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
7’Zombieland'
Four survivors known only by the cities they were traveling to—Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) and conning sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin)—traveled across the zombie-infested country in horror-comedyZombieland. As they traveled, they stuck to a list of rules to help ensure their survival, and each had a different destination or goal in mind. For Tallahassee, that was to find his favorite snack, a Twinkie.
In one scene, the survivors wandered an abandoned grocery store, with the products on its shelves serving as clear product placement. But similar toE.T.,the most notable product placement inZombielandwas part of the plot, withTallahassee desperately in search of Twinkies. But it also made for one of the movie’s most memorable scenes—Tallahassee found a Hostess truck filled with nothing but Snoballs, not a single beloved Twinkie in sight.
Zombieland
6’The Great Gatsby'
Moet et Chandon
InBaz Luhrmann’s take on the classic novelThe Great GatsbybyF. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) was drawn into the world of his mysterious millionaire neighbor Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) during the Jazz Age of the 1920s. Meanwhile, Nick’s cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan), Gatsby’s former love, lived across the bay from Gatsby. The movie was told through flashbacks by Nick.
The Great Gatsbywas a story about excess, shown by Gatsby’s lavish parties—which included women carrying comically large bottles of Moët et Chandon champagne. While most movies would settle for close-ups of the bottles or maybe mention the brand by name,The Great Gatsbywent above and beyond. Like other films, some of the film’s other product placement makes sense, but when it comes to the giant bottles of champagne, it’s hard to see the point or benefit.
The Great Gatsby
5’Transformers: Age of Extinction'
Beats and Bud Light
InTransformers: Age of Extinction, a group of humans led by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) helped Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the Autobots, as the rest of humanity allied with a bounty hunter looking for Optimus Prime, especially as public opinion of the Transformers shifted towards viewing them as troublesome. The movie was the fourth in theTransformersseries, all based on the toys of the same name, and was directed byMichael Bay.
TheTransformersfranchise overall has featured lots of product placement, some of the most obvious of which came inAge of Extinction. In one scene, Cade, traveling in a spaceship, hit a Bud Light truck—and as though the blue truck wasn’t already obvious,the scene also featured a close-up of Bud Light bottles with the same blue color strewn throughout the wreckage. Another notable scene featured a close-up of a Beats speaker.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
4’I, Robot'
Set in 2035,I, Robotpresented a not-too-distant future in which robots served in public-service positions, such as police. After a robot named Sonny (Alan Tudyk) was suspected of murdering Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the founder of U.S. Robotics, and making his death look like a suicide, human detective Del Spooner (Will Smith)—who had a deep mistrust of robots—took on the case. The story referencedIsaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics.
Del frequently mentioned Converse shoes throughout the movie, to the point that it became not only noticeable but distracting, pulling viewers out of an otherwise entertaining film. At one point, Del received a new pair, and the scene in which he unboxed the shoe and it was shown on his footin a close-up could practically be lifted out and made into a commercial on its own. The shoes were also mentioned in a few other scenes later on.
GM, Chanel
Barbiebrought the iconic doll to life as Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) left their perfect lives in Barbieland behind and entered the real world to find out why Barbie was experiencing problems like flat feet and thoughts of death—and discovered the patriarchy while they were there. The movie was written byGreta GerwigandNoah Baumbachand directed by Gerwig, and it was blockbuster success, surpassing $1 billion at the box office.
2’Jurassic World'
TheJurassic Parkfranchise returned in 2015 withJurassic World, set 22 years after the original film—and similarly, it featured a luxury resort off the coast of Costa Rica withgenetically engineered dinosaurs, most notably the intelligent modified hybrid Indominus rex. When it escaped, it triggered a chain reaction which led to the park’s other dinosaurs escaping and running loose. The movie starredChris PrattandBryce Dallas Howard.
A number of brands were shown in the park itself, such as Starbucks and Ben & Jerry’s, andit at least makes sense that a huge theme park would offer food and drinks from some major companies. But the most noticeable product placement inJurassic Worldwas Mercedes-Benz. The vehicles were featured prominently throughout the film, so much so that it became a distraction—seemingly every character was shown driving a Mercedes at some point.
Jurassic World
1’Man of Steel'
IHOP and Sears
Man of Steelwas one of many takes on the famous story of Superman—to preserve their race and save their infant son, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) of the planet Krypton sent his son to Earth, where he was found by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) Kent in the town of Smallville. They raised him as their son, Clark (Henry Cavill), whose superpowers eventually led to him becoming Superman.
Man of Steeldidn’t just include obvious product placement—the movie was notable for the sheer number of brands it showcased and how impossible they were to ignore. Not only were businesses like IHOP and Sears shown in the backgrounds of scenes, but they were also included in characters’ backstories. Martha, for example, worked at Sears, and the store was damaged when a train was thrown into it. The movie also integrated products on a smaller scale, such as Clark’s preference for Nokia phones and Budweiser beer.
