Movies Product Placement Whores!

So I was watching Final Destination 2 on the boob tube tonight and found it rather funny that every computer in the movie, that I remember seeing, was a Mac!

It is unfortunately a necessary evil these days as costs for movies skyrocket and producers are looking to cover costs.

Any one else remember funny (but not on purpose) product placements in movies they have seen?

The Mac that uploaded the virus to the alien mothership in Independence Day.

The blatant Dominos Pizza product placement in the original Ninja Turtles movie. (They even had the guy pause a moment with the pizza box in view while handing it to the turtle)

The Arabic Windows logon screen in True Lies.

The Wizard. (The whole freaking movie was one big Nintendo product placement)

more to come.

"Farscry" wrote:

The Mac that uploaded the virus to the alien mothership in Independence Day.

And who wouldn''t have gone for that product placement?

""So, let me understand this...my product saves the entire human race? Uh, I don''t think that''s the image we''re going for.""

It was still funny.

Nokia phone in Matrix.

edit: Oh yes. There was this Mac laptop that Tom Cruise used throughout Impossible Mission but the actual Apple sign was ""flashed"" just once briefly.

Any one else remember funny (but not on purpose) product placements in movies they have seen?

I doubt there''s any product placement in movies nowadays that isn''t on purpose.

And while we''re at the topic, I think Cast Away has to be the worst offender. Longest FedEx commercial imaginable.

I seem to remember alot of that Mac stuff Apple gets for free. Hollywood types just drool over Macs. I''m not sure if that''s changed recently but I think alot of the computers being Macs thing, especially in smaller productions, is just people putting them there because they like Macs. Damn fruity hippie machines

And while we''re at the topic, I think Cast Away has to be the worst offender. Longest FedEx commercial imaginable.

Not that I don''t agree with the whole FedEx thing in Cast Away, but wasn''t that movie loosely based on a true story about a guy who worked for FedEx?

Speaking of the Matrix, I had to laugh at the highway chase scene during the second one. Largest convergence of Cadillacs ever.

Didn''t some TV show have a character named Lisa Catera? (Lease a Catera)

-DrA

All the cars in MAtrix reloaded were the same brand, too. GM I think.

Most movies and tv shows use the Mac OS when they show the screen, but it''s almost always running on PC hardware. I guess they''re hoping we won''t notice.

I was aimlessly watching Badboys 2 on TV and noticed a huge Pepsi semi roll by one scene. I wonder how much that costs..

It''s already coming up in games once in a while too and it''s only going to get worse. I''m waiting for an ""EA"" watermark to sit permanently on the bottom right of my Electronic Arts games. *shudder*

And while we''re at the topic, I think Cast Away has to be the worst offender. Longest FedEx commercial imaginable.

I read somewhere that FedEx didn''t pay for product placement in Cast Away. It was a pretty reliable source, but unfortunately, I can''t remember exactly where.

Besides, they had to use either FedEx or UPS anyway... And, I would bet that FedEx has more global brand recognition.

Terminator 3.

When the chick Terminator first comes back in time there''s a couple that are completely stupid. She gets in a car which she says is cool (don''t remember what kind, might have been a lexus or something) and looks at a Victoria''s Secret billboard and makes her breasts perkier.

Return of the Killer Tomatoes - Half-way through the movie they say they can''t afford it anymore, so they start doing product placements everywhere: toothpaste, soda, anything. When they go to rescue the girl, they plan on riding Kawasaki 4-wheel ATVs and go on and on about how great they are before they go. Now that was funny.

In the XMen movie where they get in the RX-8. Every time I see that I think how dumb it is, here they are, all the cool sh*t from stealth planes, super bikes, underground metal chambers, etc... and they get in a $30,000 car? WTF?

Also, I remember a statement from a Ford PR guy saying about 24 ""We basically own that show"".

"LeapingGnome" wrote:

Also, I remember a statement from a Ford PR guy saying about 24 ""We basically own that show"".

Well, except for all those Hummers and GMC SUVs that everybody keeps driving.

Hey, I''ve never seen it and I think this was regarding season one when it was commercial free with the three minute Ford commercial first and everybody drove Expeditions.

Not that I don''t agree with the whole FedEx thing in Cast Away, but wasn''t that movie loosely based on a true story about a guy who worked for FedEx?

Might be the case. Maybe they wanted to establish his character when he raved about how he''s determined to deliver packages in time in the intro, acting as if that was the sole purpose of his life, worth selling his mother. It, however, ''felt so incredibly commercial'' to me it''s not funny anymore. And at the end he delivers the package, which really seemed to intend to communicate that ''no matter what happens, we''ll deliver the stuff'' message to me. Maybe just I''m spoiled by ads, product placements and all kind of subtle attempts to appeal to me.

Oh, and another ''annoying ad pool'' contender would be the latest James Bond movies. At some point it was only about some car that was pimped in the series, but now it''s about watches, cars, cell phones, clothing etc. etc. etc. And one''s being bombarded within in the weeks ahead of a Bond movie launch.

Ya know, Spunior, I didn''t get that feeling at all. To me it was more like he had nowhere else to go and reverted to the only thing he knew. I guess that''s the nice thing about interpretation...what works for me may not for you, and vice versa.

On the Bond thing, though, I am 100% in agreement with ya.

It''s already coming up in games once in a while too and it''s only going to get worse. I''m waiting for an ""EA"" watermark to sit permanently on the bottom right of my Electronic Arts games. *shudder*

Has been since the early 90''s. Space Quest 5 had a Sprint logo screen after each incoming message. And one of the later Tomb Raiders was trying to sell some kind of Timex watch thingie.

I found the Fed Ex placement in Cast Away to be a metaphor for the hurried pace of life - a stark contrast to the island where all he has is time.

The product placements that I remember the most are the Nokia 9000 phone in ''The Saint'', and how every bad guy in the first season of 24 used a Windows PC and every good guy used a Mac.

I don''t think that was even a PC vs Mac thing JMJ, I think it was Dells vs Macs.

I have occasionally spotted KDE or Gnome running on computers in TV shows, which sets my geeky heart a flutter. I wish I could remember one.

Oh yeah, ssh_nuke in the Matrix sequels. Oh wait, I think that actually did Linux a disservice.

I remember Sean Bean''s villian character in GoldenEye had OS/2 running the PCs in his evil lair

I have occasionally spotted KDE or Gnome running on computers in TV shows, which sets my geeky heart a flutter. I wish I could remember one.

Antitrust?

Another Terminator 3 one. They are on some road battling the Termanatrix and a semi jacknifes and conviently shows EPHEDRA advertising on the trailer of the semi. You can''t miss it its so obvious.

There was also the Wayne''s World bit where they say ""We''ll never sell out man"" while grabbing a slice of Pizza and smiling for the camera...

In ""The Phantom Clones"" - or whatever that last piece of sh*t Lucas put out was called - right after Anakin kills those tall ewoks in gas masks - ""going all evil"" (off-camera of course) - he''s in a workshop telling his future dead wife all about it.

In the midst of this supposedly dark and dramatic scene, the mulleted whiner throws a lugnut into the room behind him and the camera lingers there for a few seconds...right on Luke''s landspeeder from the very first Star Wars movie.

Everybody get that? Here we have the first suposed inkling of the emergence of the most evil, muderous villian in the universe, and Lucas pauses the scene, breaking the suspension of disbelief that is so important to maintaining emotional investment, to give us a ""lookie there!"" cameo - apparently just to remind us that we are indeed watching a movie.

For those of you wondering why I make this point in this thread, I am chalking it up to product placement for a movie that didn''t actually suck, in one that, of course, did.

There was also the Wayne''s World bit where they say ""We''ll never sell out man"" while grabbing a slice of Pizza and smiling for the camera...

That was done on purpose. It was the best product placement in any movie. Most likely the cleverist. Had them talking about never doing product placement while purposefully doing product placement.

It''s quite some time ago, but I think I remember correctly: In the first Ghost Busters movie there is a part where Sigourney Weaver opens up her fridge (no, this ain''t some metaphor) to reveal in center-frame... a can of Coca Cola!

Then there''s one in Panic Room where Jodie Foster casually opens up a very prominent can of Coke (while speaking to her daughter) and proceeds to pour it ever so slowly into a glass. The glass of Coke stays center-frame and a silence ensues where only the fizz can be heard. Fincher is such a sell-out!

"el_dino" wrote:

Nokia phone in Matrix.

Is that the one Neo drops off the building? Makes you think what they''re really trying to say...