10 Favorite Product Placements in Movies

I’ve said before that I don’t mind product placement so much. It makes sense, the product pays money for an appearance so why not? If it’s used wisely and not overdone. For example there is a scene in Santa Clause 2 where the family comes home with McDonald’s. Ok that’s clearly product placement, but I can believe they stopped for McDonald’s on the way home and it doesn’t hurt the scene so..who cares? How about Reese’s Pieces in E.T.? That was so subtle that M&M’s tried to insist that it was really there candy (it should have been, they blew it) but the bag is clearly seen in one shot. Not only it is used to advance the plot it’s done very simply.

 

 

 

 

I really don’t get why it bothers people so much, to me it makes the movie more real to have someone drinking a can of Coke rather than a can that just says “Soda” or something. Can it be used badly? Sure. For example in the movie Garfield not only was there a ton of it but they put the product placement in stupid places that made no sense. Like a toy train set with ads for Pepsi on it. Huh?

And I could be wrong but I think Petco was a sponsor too. To much! But if it’s used right, I have no problem with it. So here are some of my favorite examples of product placements in movies, because they are just so obvious!







Mac & Me

I never understood why this movie has such a close connection with McDonald’s. At first I thought it was part of the story. But no, it’s just there. I mean it’s not as if E.T. stopped for five minutes for a Reese’s Pieces song so why is going on here? Someone explain this to me!








Man of Steel

Yeah I admit it, this one was bad. Ihop, Sears and a few others were a little to blatantly put into the movie.








The Addams Family

Even I couldn’t help but notice the obvious ad for Tombstone Pizza in one scene, How could you not, the billboard is ridiculous!








Just Go With It

You can’t do a list like this without mentioning Adam Sandler. And the Pizza Hut scene in this movie is just so blatant. There a ton more in his movies but we’ll be here all day if I list them all!








Castawaty

A lot of people make fun of the Wilson soccer ball plug, but what about the blatant Fed Ex ad?







Superman II

It’s hard to have a Times Square scene (or Metropolis’s equivalent of it) without product placement but that coca-cola sign is a little..blatant







Back to the Future II

I was very sad to see that it was Pepsi Perfect that Marty chose and not Coca-Cola. But that futuristic bottle was kinda cool. At least they don’t cost $50 today! And yes Nike got a nice plug in there too.









Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I guess it makes sense out of universe, if you were Pizza Hut and heard there was gonna be a live action TMNT movie starring characters who loved pizza you’d jump in to. To bad in universe it makes no real sense, why Pizza Hut? Or Dominos as in other movies? Do they deliver to the sewers?








You’ve Got Mail

Back when AOL ruled the world they were front and center in this movie. Actually, today this movie is a fascinating look at the archaic way email and instance messaging worked in 1999. It’s kinda weird that way!








Independence Day

At least AOL didn’t literally save the world! I wasn’t sure if I should mention the Talkboy from Home Alone 2 or the PowerBook here. But while the toy Kevin uses was cool, the PowerBook 5300 saved the freaking world! This computer is so awesome it can connect with a totally alien computer with no trouble. LOL! I saw an ad for it soon after the movie came out which used scenes from the movie and figured, well of course they would brag about it!









Plenty more out there. Got an example of crazy product placement in movies? Comment and let me know.  Do TV shows do this to? Oh my yes, but that’s another subject. For now let’s not forget one of the most coolest, badass product placements every seen in a movie: