Oliver Noble edited a fun look at the history of product placement in American film, featured at Political Remix Video. Among other tidbits, in this 6-and-a-half minute video, he reveals that:
- the first known product placement was in 1919;
- Hershey’s paid a million dollars to make Reeses Pieces a plot point in E.T. (image source);
- movies sometimes switch up the product placed for different audiences;
- and the record for the most product placements in a single film goes to Michael Bay’s Transformers with 47.
Fun stuff:
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 17
Paige — March 22, 2011
What about a movie like Josie and the Pussycats? My understanding is that they weren't paid for any of the product placement in the movie - a movie that is about selling out and ad campaigns...
So does it not count? I guess I'd have to go back and count, but I'd bet there are more than 47 instances of product placement.
Molly W, — March 22, 2011
My all-time favorite instance of product placement: In Dracula 2000, the female lead (named Mary) works at Virgin Records and spends a good chunk of the movie running around with "Virgin" scrawled across the front of her T-shirt. Brazen product placement, sure -- but the director did a great job of using the image.
Jared — March 22, 2011
Just a nit-picky point, but the record for most instances of product placement doesn't go to Transformers, it goes to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Bill Angel — March 23, 2011
This tidbit may only interest older movie viewers (I'm 63) but I discovered that Woody Allen and Diane Keaton appeared wielding Dunlop tennis racquets in several scenes in the 1977 movie Annie Hall.
I picked up the above piece of information from the online resource:
"Handbook of product placement in the mass media" whose URL is
http://books.google.com/books?id=M8Zp6g0fbVEC
SPS — March 23, 2011
The most conspicuous product placement I've ever seen was in an episode of one of those cop shows on tv. The internet hookup went out in the surveillance van, so one of the guys said "Here, use my Spring Mobile HotSpot!" and went on to detail all the benefits of it.
Tim — March 23, 2011
I actually found product placement much less obtrusive in placement-heavy films like Transformers. If 50 products appear here and there, you're just seeing the world we normally inhabit - of course there are brands everywhere. See just one, and it sticks out a mile.
Jen — March 23, 2011
I think the most egregious example I've seen was the Nokia ad in the new Star Trek movie. Like, I think part of the reason I had enjoyed the original Star Trek so much was because the society lacked the brazen consumerism seen in our own. So a Nokia ad in the middle of Star Trek... total mood-killer.
Eduardo Juarez Martinez — March 23, 2011
If you want to see some of the worst product placement, see the second season of the "The Ultimate Fighter". Horrible product placement that involved Right Guard and Xyience. Blatant and embarrassing close-ups of the logos and products, and one obviously staged scene involving Rich Franklin and his fellow fighters gushing about Xyience. So cheesy and bad. Seriously, it looked like the people on that show were living in a Xyience and Right Guard Universe.
Susan — March 24, 2011
I don't know how much I'd even count the ones in the Adam Sander movies, since I think it was more like in Wayne's World where it was more done for laughs by being so direct. What I really hate are the ones that take a few extra moments to zoom in on exactly what brand the phone is, or if somebody's going through a drawer and there's a very obviously placed perfectly visible Butterfinger.
I have to admit I love Josie and the Pussycats, and a lot of people make fun of me for that, but I actually find it to be really clever.
Erik — March 26, 2011
Hi.
Nice discussion about product placement. I did a Top best placements ever. Check it out at http://brandsandfilms.com/2011/01/top-40-product-placements-of-all-time-10-1/
You might agree or disagree with the best one and the rest.
Product Placement: Relatable or Repulsive? | — February 25, 2014
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