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.