By Robert Scucci
| Published
When product placement is used heavy-handedly in media, it can come across as disingenuous, and rightfully so. Nobody likes being advertised to while taking in a work of fiction, but art imitates life, and people buy stuff. More importantly, our cities, cupboards, and highway billboards all deliver one important message: brand recognition runs deep in our waking lives.
We live in a consumer-driven landscape, so it’s only natural that our media reflects this through product placement.
Reese’s Pieces And Eggos
Product placement is an easy way to cross-promote a film and make money, but you can’t hate the player for participating in the game.
The use of Reese’s Pieces in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was a deliberate creative choice. Spielberg originally wanted M&M’s, but Mars rejected the pitch. Hershey’s approved Reese’s Pieces, and the rest is history.
While money certainly changed hands, Spielberg’s intent was pure. He needed a recognizable candy to illustrate Elliot’s bond with the alien. Kids love candy. Apparently, aliens do too. Generic packaging would not have landed the same. Sci-fi adventures already require heavy suspension of disbelief, so familiar logos make the extraordinary feel more grounded.
The same goes for Stranger Things, using Eggo Waffles as a way for Eleven to cope with her fractured sense of normalcy. A traumatized kid turning to comfort food makes sense. The placement was not designed to move product. It became iconic after the fact because it fit the story.
The Seinfeld Switchup
Seinfeld is notorious for product placement, but never truly cashed in on it, according to Glenn Padnick, then-president of Castle Rock Entertainment. In “The Pez Dispenser,” Jerry can be seen drinking both Coke and Pepsi, two competing brands, because it felt more realistic. Some people are loyal to one soda. Others, like Jerry, grab whatever is on sale.
Pez, Snapple, Junior Mints, and countless other brands appeared throughout the series. The show used real-life brands not as cash grabs but as tools for comedy. Padnick said they never considered monetizing it. They recognized that dropping in recognizable products made the humor more relatable.
Society Collapses, But Brands Endure
Battlefield Earth, infamous for being one of the worst films of all time, surprisingly nails product placement as social commentary. In a throwaway line, Carlo recalls the “before times,” when people drove, “…in their chariots in front of special caves with golden arches. Golden. And the food would magically appear.”
On its face, it reads like shameless McDonald’s pandering. But it lands as something bleaker: the world may collapse, but the golden arches endure.
28 Days Later takes a similar approach. After waking from his coma, Jim frantically flees the infected before Selena offers him cans of Lilt or Tango. He asks for Sprite instead. It is a small, almost absurd moment of preference during chaos, but it humanizes him. A brand he remembers from before the fall is a lifeline to the world he has lost.
Society may crumble, but comfort often comes as something recognizable.
South Park Makes Zero Bank From Product Placement
In their mini commentaries, Trey Parker and Matt Stone admit they made no money from their Season 10 two-parter “Go God Go,” where Cartman freezes himself to avoid waiting for the Nintendo Wii release.
South Park’s grueling schedule does not leave time to negotiate brand deals, and Parker and Stone have always chased the funniest premise rather than sponsorship opportunities. Both avid gamers, they wanted to build Nintendo jokes around Cartman’s obsession. Looking back, they laugh that they probably could have made a fortune from Nintendo, but confirm they never made a dime.
Product Placement Enhances Storytelling More Than You’d Think
Blatant cash grabs are unavoidable, but not every instance of product placement comes from a cynical place. Recognizable brands add realism to extraordinary scenarios and give characters grounding in the same comforts we turn to.
Just imagine E.T. with Elliot leaving a trail of “Generic Peanut Butter Candy #3,” and it all starts to make sense.
