Transformers (2007) Review and Product Placement

In 2007, the first of the live-action Transformers movies was released. Directed by Michael Bay, a former music video director known for effects-driven action films such as "Armageddon", "Pearl Harbor", and the "Bad Boys" films; was chosen to direct, with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman writing the script. This will be my first big look at product placement, given how Michael Bay not only has a penchant for it, but in how it comes up in Transformers a lot; and this will be an introduction to covering its other adaptations and other merchandise-driven shows.

Our first scene with the human soldiers has Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) listening to an iPod as he talks with the rest of his unit about their plans for shore leave. Even though mine is broken, I would be willing to get another one to listen to my Transformers songs and '80s and '90s music (I much prefer that to the new music out today).

Next, we see Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) talking with his wife and seeing his infant daughter over Cisco Systems VoIP (Voiceover Internet Protocol) software and HP computers.

As we leave Qatar after Blackout and Scorponok's fairly realistic attack on the SOCCENT military base, we see Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) give a report on his grandfather Archibald Witwicky's journey to the Arctic Circle; and he holds up a copy of the New York Times showing how the encounter got him committed; after he became blind and mentally unstable, drawing Cybertronian symbols.

He runs out after school to buy his first car with his father Ron (Kevin Dunn), who is driving an old Chevrolet convertible.

He drives through a Porsche dealer, and then Sam gets excited as Ron then jokingly scoffs at the idea of buying Sam a Porsche for his first car. This was the response to the producers asking if they could use one for Jazz's alt-mode, but they said no; saying that the original version was an unauthorized use of their cars, and they did not want them being tied into a toyline and movie containing animated violence.

Next, we see Sam looking at cars at Bobby Bolivia (Bernie Mac, RIP) Used Cars. He finds a Chevrolet Camaro, a beat-up 1976 muscle car. (Not pictured is Sam wiping some dirt off the horn to reveal an Autobot symbol.)

When the car is priced at $5,000; Ron will not pay over $4,000; and Bobby B suggests a Volkswagen Beetle. The car is dented by the door of the Camaro, which was also the response to Volkswagen refusing to allow the Beetle to represent Bumblebee, for the exact same reasons as Porsche as above.

Later, he tries to sell the glasses on eBay, and is using a Macbook with Safari browser.

So, we then cut to Air Force One. I am omitting some scenes due to connection problems.

I'd rather be watching this movie, by the way.

So, it seems there is a boombox version of Frenzy, one of the Decepticon communications robots.
He manages to sneak up behind one of the secret service guards, who is just casually reading a USA Today about the attack on the SOCCENT base in Qatar.

A flight attendant is asked by the president (an indirectly-mentioned George W. Bush caricature) to get him some Ding Dongs. She takes some out from the galley, and drops one on the floor. Hostess had a very big tie-in with some of their cakes for Dark of the Moon, which I will look at for a later entry if I can.

Then, we get an Autobot symbol quite far along into the movie.

Then, we get a very big closeup on a Panasonic SD card containing the signal that broke into Air Force One.

We then get a chase scene that is interrupted in front of a Burger King; which had a very big promotion with their Kids Meals; as well as a peel, scratch, and win game.

We then get a car chase that shows off more of the Camaro, as well as the villain Barricade, portrayed by a modified Ford Mustang provided by Saleen Custom Cars. The song "Pretty Handsome Awkward" by the Used is also playing in the background, as shown here.

Almost an hour into the movie, we finally get an appearance of Bumblebee in robot mode after a fight scene.

Bumblebee, come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price is Right!

After Mikaela makes fun of his alt-mode, we get a new scene of Bumblebee switching to the alt-mode of a Camaro concept.

So begins what I call, the "General Motors montage". A montage of Autobots finding brand-new GM alt-modes!

First up is Jazz going to a Cadillac dealership to get a Pontiac Solstice alt-mode. Pontiac, unfortunately, was one of the automobile brands that ended up being a casualty of GM's chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the 2008-onward recession.

Next, we see a little girl with a My Little Pony G3 Pinkie Pie. This is in the days where it was still primarily a franchise seen as insipid entertainment for young girls. Now, it's considered on both sides of the fandom (the TV specials and My Little Pony and Friends, and the newer My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) to be the nadir of the franchise. As shown in the season 3 episode "Too Many Pinkie Pies", one of the clones makes a G3 face and is promptly destroyed by Twilight Sparkle. The scene proved to be so popular The Hub even made an advert for the show from it.

Next, we see Ironhide choosing his alt-mode, a GMC Topkick truck.

Though it's never officially pointed out, Optimus Prime's alt-mode is a modified Peterbilt truck. Apart from not having a GM vehicle to use; this was done for a practical reason of the visual effects having to correspond to the robots' vehicle proportions. Hence, why Blackout is a massive hulk and Starscream has chicken legs.

As the film continues, we see Sector 7 approach Sam's house about the ordeal with the Transformers; and it seems they favor the GMC Yukon for their standard-issue black government cars.

Regarding Sam's shirt, it seems he's a fan of the band The Strokes. I get the feeling a guy his age would be into alternative music like that; and they are pretty good artists.

After an action scene where Bumblebee, Sam, and Mikaela are captured, Tom Banacheck addresses Secretary of Defense John Keller (Jon Voight) about how they had known about the Transformers before. He shows them a video file of a Mars Rover sighting of one, and it's played on a MacBook Pro with the iconic bitten apple dead center in the frame. It's an older model of the one I watched this movie and am writing about it on; and various Transformers pictures have adorned my desktop in the time following.

Then, Maggie and her confidante Glenn (Anthony Anderson) are brought to the Hoover Dam for what they discovered about the signal. Glenn has taken some Pepto-Bismol and Alka-Seltzer after eating an entire plate of donuts in an earlier scene. I imagine that was also needed to deal with the shaky cam (I don't have a problem with it; but it has been known to cause motion sickness in some viewers).

It is now we reach some of the more amusing instances of product placement in the film. In order to demonstrate the capabilities the All Spark has on human technology (the bulk of which was reverse-engineered by studying Megatron's body in stasis); Glenn presents a Nokia cell phone.

They turn the energy on, and it becomes a robot! Regarding the samurai motif, Simmons (John Turturro) mentions that the Japanese still hold their beliefs; yet Maggie points out that Nokia is a Finnish company. Keller mentions he's aware, but Simmons is utterly insane.

I think I'll call him Rumble.

So, it seems the Decepticons have found out Megatron and the All Spark, so they must extract the Cube into Mission City and fight the Decepticons. We get another shot of the Camaro Bumblebee is taking form as.

Then, the Decepticon truck, Bonecrusher, attacks Optimus Prime on the freeway.

Round 1-FIGHT!

Optimus then draws his sword...

...and rams it into Bonecrusher, decapitating him.

Optimus Prime wins! MARKETABILITY!

Then, another peculiar product placement is seen as the battle that takes up the bulk of the film's third act begins, when Bumblebee tries to take cover behind a Furby truck. By the way, it seems Furby is back again. Not looking forward to that.

As Optimus Prime gets ready to face off against Megatron, we get one of the aforementioned Transformers images that has adorned my desktop. While I'm not the biggest fan of the movie, I cannot deny the impact this image had on my 15-year-old self.

So, as Sam is assigned to extract the Cube, he dashes through the city and triggers some more amusing product placement; starting with this Mountain Dew machine.

Carbonated water, corn syrup, caffeine, Yellow 5-everything a successful student needs.

We see some of the other robots, which include a steering wheel robot...

I call it Crashpad.

...an Xbox 360 robot...

I call him Red Ring.

...and a Mountain Dew Robot known as Dispensor.

Drink Mountain Dew, the choice of hostile alien robots everywhere!

One of the more subtle instances are the Nikes Sam is wearing as he clings to a statue with the All Spark in his hands. While this was mocked heavily; I think it adds a sense of realism to the film. A large part of the rationale of the live-action movies is to examine what would really happen if the Transformers came to Earth in a post-9/11 world.

After all is said and done, Sam and Mikaela embrace on top of Bumblebee as Linkin Park's "What I've Done" plays. While it was not written for the movie, it use helped popularize the song; in the same manner that Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" was popularized by Batman Forever, which I may cover in a future post.

So, the movie ends with one last statement: it was based on Hasbro's Transformers action figures. While movies based on toys had existed for some time before this film (the 1986 movie being a key example of that); this was the first major case of a toy manufacturer directly funding a movie rather than  paying a fee to a licensor as a third party.

Because of the massive box office success of the movie; the toyline was returned to profitability to the point where it was the bestselling boys' toyline of the year in 2007. Pictured below is an Optimus Prime figure from the line.

The film has become a large part of marketing synergy, and even though it has caused division among fans; it does have some very good action scenes and made some great breakthroughs in visual effects. I defy anyone to look at these robots and tell me they look fake. So, I can say that it worked out very well.

Next time, I will get into how superhero films are big ones for this as well. In the meantime, I leave you with this Honest Trailer on how big the advertising was.

Introduction: 47 Brands in One Movie? $160 million in brands?

Hello. I have started this blog as a school project to talk about advertising in film and TV. Specifically, I will be addressing the ever-present issue of product placement in film and on TV. You will have to bear with me, and I will be keeping this blog work-safe. I would like you to keep your comments constructive in that regard, as this is mostly intended to inform; though I will try to make it sound interesting. I am a young adult student after all. That said, let's get started.

One of the things that piqued my interest was looking at the critically-reviled, fan-divisive, multi-million dollar blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen". The film, released in summer 2009; made headlines for featuring a then-record 47 product placements in the film.

The most prominent had to be the return of the numerous placements of General Motors cars; chief among the return of the Chevrolet Camaro concept as Bumblebee, the kid-appeal character and guardian of Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf).

Another prominent one is when Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) tries to call Sam on Cisco WebEx video chat software; but is unable to reach Sam due to the latter being dragged into a fraternity party by his roommates.

What's more, this video contains many of the instances of product placement in the film, handily compressed in to a 3-minute video for those who do not want to sit through a 149-minute film. 


It has also been another big push for the popular Transformers action figure line; as the film did very will in licensed goods. Pictured below is the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime; one of the big sellers in the line of action figures.

This year, a new record was set for product placement. "Man of Steel", the reboot of the Superman film franchise; garnered a record $160 million in product placement from various brands, the most ever tied to a single film.

As Clark Kent is a drifter throughout much of the film, he sports a beard. Upon donning the costume for the first time, he appears clean-shaven. This was accented by a campaign where Gillette advertised themselves as the razor brand that would be perfect to shave his super-beard. The campaign had commercials where bearded celebrities and Superman fans such as talk show host Conan O'Brien and filmmaker Kevin Smith (Smith worked on one of the failed pitches for a Superman movie in the 1990s; and shares anecdotes at convention appearances about how producer Jon Peters demanded he add a fight with a robotic spider. Smith later poked fun at this in the animated film Superman Doomsday, where he lent his voice and likeness to a character that dismissed such a fight taking place in the film as "lame").

In the film's scene where General Zod addresses the people of earth by taking over their displays, a Windows phone from Finnish cell phone magnate Nokia, the Lumia 925 is prominently displayed.

Among other backers, Sears department store was a large backer, and the store is prominently displayed in Superman's battle with Zod and his followers in Smallville. The store locations had displays of the goods everywhere.

However, this is just scratching the surface on how much sway advertising has in film and TV. We will be looking at how lucrative and how absurd it can get. Trust me when I say that superhero films and the Transformers series will come up a lot as examples. We will come back to this later. I now leave you with an earwormy commercial bumper and a memetic photo of Superman with a quizzical expression.