Pete Dudchenko

I saw the latest Bond movie last night (decent flick but longer than it needs to be) and one of the things that stood out was the amount of product placement in that movie. Maybe it’s just me (probably) but I couldn’t help but notice all of the Sony items in the movie. Coincidence? I’m guessing not since other Bond movies seemed to have followed the same trend. First there was the Sony Vaio laptops, then the Sony Ericsson cell phones which, by the way if there’s any truth to the movie, cell phones will be pushing GPS soon. Finally the kicker was when one of the characters was taking a picture with, you guessed it, a Sony camera. By the way, did I mention that Sony Pictures made the movie?

I suppose this is inevitable considering how difficult traditional commercials must be with TiVo and stuff. Actually I don’t mind a little bit, it adds to the realism of the movie. I’d rather see a Sony or Apple laptop than a fake one anyway but too much becomes distracting. It did start me thinking though of some other movies that have had too much product placement where it becomes noticeable:

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – Probably the most recognized use of product placement would be the love of Reeses Pieces by an alien from outerspace.
• Wayne’s World – The scene is when Wayne and Garth have been picked up by a station and the station wants to add product placement for “Noah’s Arcade”. In resisting, Wayne and Garth poke fun of actual product placement in the movie by dressing up in Reebok or eating Doritos chips, all while saying how much product placement in the show would be “selling out.”
• The Transporter – I may be confusing this with the sequel but this seemed like a 2 hour commercial for a BMW.
• The Italian Job – Just like Transporter but this time it was a commercial for the Mini Cooper.
• Thank You for Smoking – Actually there was no direct product placement that stood out for me but this movie does address the concept within the storyline by showing the tobacco industry attempting to make smoking cool again by having movie actors smoke within the movies.

HowStuffWorks.com has more information on the concept of Product Placement. Also, BrandChannel attempts to identify some of the new releases that have product placement in them. You can also read up on the latest PP news.