At a USC forum last Saturday, a writer asked whether it was worth considering product integration when writing a script. She said her project would lend itself really well to a major brand like Starbucks.
I told her that I’d often heard plans of trying to bring advertisers in on the ground floor of a movie, but that it never seemed to work out. The gap between commercials and big-screen entertainment was just too wide.
Well, I stand corrected.
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June 10th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Ahhh, the 80’s. As goofy as the styles were back then, they bring back found memories. Ironically THAT is the new wave of fashion. I’m starting to see 80’s colors and clothing style everywhere now!
While I’m kinda digging the bright colors coming back, I’m just constantly reminded at how souless this last decade has been. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has been a rip-off of some other decade. (If I see one more kid with that lame, long-ish 70’s hair-do I’m gonna puke).
The 70’s, the 80’s, even the 90’s with grunge had their own styles. BUt man this last decade is nothing but an hybrid of other decades. Fashion, music, all the movie remakes — it’s all so depressing.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
It takes a big man to know when he’s wrong. I’m proud of you.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Dude, what is going on with you and this movie?
June 10th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Awesome. And while I like the McDonald’s digs, I’m much more into the synchronized dancing. That’s the biggest problem with kids these days: they grow up too fast and skip over the synchronized dancing phase. I’m so proud to be a kid of the 80’s.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:13 am
It can be done but it usually goes south… Mostly because THAT SCENE – is really what they want, but they don’t say, “we want the ’sledge hammer’ method” at the outset. It just sort of… decays into place :) My first sale never became a movie largely because of this haggling. — Like global warming… Inch-by-inch… until one day you look up and find yourself in the middle of a RAGING choreographed Mc-Jazz-er-cize.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Even when I was a kid I knew it was a blatant rip-off of E.T. Did they run out of funding and McDonald’s stepped in at the eleventh hour before the studio shut them down and said, “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to bring your cameras over to one of our stores and we’re going to have dancing football players and your alien tap dancing across our registers…”?
June 10th, 2008 at 9:46 am
I like it because it almost looks like the filmmakers were trying to hide the fact they were shooting at a McDonald’s. Whenever they show the logo, it’s partly out-of-frame or obscured by a bush or a bunch of kids.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Damn you, John August, damn you! I’m going to have to book myself in for a brain scrub after seeing that hydrogen peroxide based industrial strength cleanser.
I’m going to watch Even Dwarfs Started Small now just to restore some sanity into my world.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:08 am
For the love of God! My eyes!
June 10th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Haha, Ronald Mc Donald…let’s be honest… the 80s movies were FULL of ads! Mostly McDonald’s (e.g. Santa Claus) or Coke.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
This reminds me of that time I started an impromptu synchronized dance routine in an Arby’s.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:21 am
So, Mac and Me in a MacDonalds? I am sensing some subtle product placement. Those makers of the King and I really dropped the ball on that one. They could have had a musical number in a BK and they blew it! The lessons of Mac and Me just keep on coming.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Spielberg wanted M&Ms to be E.T.’s favorite snack, but they turned him down, so he used Reese’s Pieces instead. Sales rocketed. Sales of Ray Bands (a declining brand) tripled after Tom Cruise wore them in “Risky Business”. Sales of undershirts crashed when Clark gable showed he didn’t wear them in “It Happened One Night”.
But don’t do the Starbucks scene from “Miss Congeniality”. Loved that film, but that scene was too much of a product placement.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Speaking of product placement in 80s movies, does anyone remember “The Wizard.” It was a 90 minute Nintendo commercial, and I loved every second of it. It was the only time I’ve gone to a movie not to see the movie, but to see the product placement.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I’m a USC writing student. Why am I only finding out about this forum now?
June 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
@Chris (#3):
I’m only finding it in parts, and every part is more awesome than the last.
@Searn (#15):
It was a Women of Cinematic Arts event. But there were guys there, too. It was a lot like the twice-yearly Got Career seminars.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I remember it being a big deal when BACK TO THE FUTURE (1) blatantly featured sooo very many brand name products (Marty skateboarding past a Burger King, dialogue mentions and shots of Pepsi–and Pepsi Free!–and that specific 4×4 truck Marty coveted), but especially all the brand names in that one scene toward the beginning when Marty and his family are sitting around the table and get the news that Uncle “Jailbird” Joey didn’t make parole again: His brother is dressed in a full-on Burger King employee uniform, and even the label on the drunk mom’s brand of vodka is featured.
Wow. Apparently all that product placement did it’s job… since here I am still able to recall it in detail 23 (eep!) years later.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
PS. Hi, John. Fellow USC filmschool alum here. Long time reader, first time poster. Love the blog. :)
June 10th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Wonder what the story is behind Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Wonder what the story is behind Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.
Apparently, they loved it. They even had collectible “Harold and Kumar” cups during the film’s release. That’s because H&K were very positive about the whole White Castle experience.
Compare with “White Palace” (alright, that also the name of the book), or “Empire Records”, which was based on the writer’s experience of working at a “Tower Records” in Phoenix. Both those films featured negative scenes, or scenes that could be perceived negatively, associated with those companies.
So, yeah, Starbucks might go along with the script (getting a meeting with them would probably be as hard as getting a meeting with any production company, though), but they may request a lot of changes before giving it their ringing endorsement.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Hope you don’t mind me using this thread to post this John, but on your homepage you have The Nines being available at Amazon, ITunes, Netflix and other stores, but it’s also available on Vongo for at least two more days for only 3.99 ppv, well worth the money, great movie. So if you have Vongo, go ahead and rent it!
June 10th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
A friend of mine worked on the special effects/alien suit for MAC AND ME. There are SO many behind-the-scene stories… almost too good to be believed. Such as — they tried to put a monkey in the suit… and needless to say, the monkey freaked. Ah, to see the dailies of that.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
In Mac & Me, the alien actually needs to drink Coke to live. Coke and McDonald’s are mentioned so many times in the movie it stops being unintentionally funny and becomes just plain sad.
Mac & Me is hilarious to watch for so many reasons. One of my personal favorite scenes is when the brake handle suddenly snaps off the boy’s wheelchair for no apparent reason and he rolls off a cliff.
@John – If you are looking for Mac & Me you can Netflix it. Trust me, the hilarity is worth a start to finish screening. I actually own the DVD for such occasions — don’t ask.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
When I read this I immediately thought of the movie ‘How Starbucks saved me life’ which was going to star Tom Hanks. Anyone know what happened with that?
‘Hanks finds room for Starbucks’ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/articledisplay.jsp?vnucontent_id=1002237373
June 10th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Words to live by: “Just keep him dancing, they’ll think he’s a teddy.”
June 10th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
WOW…..they should have called this movie “TRIPPIN BALLS WITH RONALD”.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I think Scott’s comment, “Scott says: Spielberg wanted M&Ms to be E.T.’s favorite snack, but they turned him down, so he used Reese’s Pieces instead…” is the most accurate. Wikipedia, that ever trustworthy source of information, makes it sound like someone went “hey…. E.T. was great, made lots of money, that whole reeses piece deal… pretty sweet” and thus Mac and Me was born.
Today, people are skeptical of outright product placements (not that they don’t exist), and moreover the movies themselves are entire franchises with video games, massive product tie-in campaigns and general advertising mean that a Mac and Me isn’t needed anymore.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Didn’t “Demolition Man” have something built in about Fast Food wars in the future? You had to see the movie to find out who won.
Turned out it was Taco Bell.(?!)
June 10th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
@Josh #14
Did you ever use the Nintendo Glove? In the movie, it made it look like everybody controlled the game just by moving their hand (what I recall from childhood memories.) In reality, the Glove was just a good-for-nothing hunk of plastic with the D-pad and buttons on it. It was impossible to use unless you were a contortionist. It only took Nintendo twenty years to perfect the idea with the Wii.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
MAC AND ME. Wow. It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen that movie. Funny bit about the McDonald’s they filmed in on the IMDb trivia page.
@ Josh (#14): I totally own THE WIZARD on DVD! Go Super Mario Bros. 3!
And on a mostly unrelated note, but talking about Starbucks placement made me think of it, does anyone else hate how fake it looks when people drink those cups of coffee in movies? You can tell the cup is empty! That bugs the crap out of me.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Even Richie Rich had his OWN McDonald’s *G
@Ayz… yeah, the Pizza Hut monopoly was a hammer! ;)
And I think some provoked ads in Wayne’s World were quite obvious as well, as far as I can remember – please help!
June 11th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Advertising is an embarassing aspect of our culture. It’s such a beast, yet such a manipulator. It’s sad how people STILL get sucked into the media’s tricks (look at the economic boom Sex and the City brought for malls and plazas… sigh).
June 11th, 2008 at 8:15 am
One more reason to go vegan.
June 11th, 2008 at 8:31 am
@POW(1) I know exactly what you mean. Personally, I think it’s media conglomeration that’s narrowed the scope and stagnated the flow of popular culture. At least, in a nutshell. One would think the openness of the internet would offset this, but unfortunately, it only tends to lend itself to the spawning of the occasional meme.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Ugh.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Isn’t the issue of unwanted and subliminal endorsement (e.g product placement) of products part of what SAG is complaining about? Associating an actor with a certain product against his/her will by placing the actor in a situation where he/she is uncomfortable as a assumed spokesperson for a brand of beer or whatever seems like a legitimate complaint to me. So how is the justification of product placement made in such a collaborative environment if the actor is an unwilling participant?
June 11th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Mac and Me is hilarious. Like a retarded version of ET. Hence the crippled kid.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:40 am
As I was reading the post preceding the clip I was thinking, “What about ‘Mac and Me?’” because my grandfather played the McDonald’s manager in that scene. Meaning that I have actually watched that movie all the way through on many occasions, and all you need to know about it is that the alien’s home planet is filled with Coca-cola – as many planets are, no doubt.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Another great McDonald’s commercial is Bye Bye Love w/ Paul Reiser. The entire plot centers around a McDonalds. Seriously.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
For another McDonald’s Infomercial, check out the 1995 20th Century Fox Paul Reiser vehicle “Bye Bye Love”…an abomination of a film where not only is McDonald’s the neutral pickup/drop off place for the kids of divorced parents, but an old man is hired at Mickey D’s and befriends a young kid inexplicably…and not in the creepy “Old White Republican Senator turned loose on the Page Program” sort of way…which would have been far more interesting.
June 11th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I remember Bye Bye Love, which at least had some talented folks in the cast, including the superb Ed Flanders of St. Elsewhere fame (he played the “old man” who got hired on at McD’s, mentioned in Howard’s post above). Flanders committed suicide about three weeks before the film was released. Coincidence?
June 11th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
In case you speak German: check out the video at http://www.stefan-niggemeier.de/blog/wie-die-ard-schleichwerbung-recycelt/
Background: in 2005 a media magazine revealed that a succesful German daily ‘Doctors’-like soap built an entire story arch (!) around a deal made between the production company and a pharmaceutical group. Fortright promoting a then new pharmaceutical product, the plot lasted several episodes and showed the vast recovery of a suffering patient, caused by the companies very treatment. Key scenes included comparisons between regular medication and the new product, results of surveys and even the doctors risking their jobs to use the new miracle cure – each element of course perfectly fitting into the cheesy daily soap style.
By the way: the product was later withdrawn from the market. It was Rofecoxib – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib .
June 12th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Who can forget “You Got Mail”? (well, we can try to forget…) Right now “Ouija” is being scripted. Parker Bros. sold the rights to a number of other board games as well. Fed Ex was a very key component of “Castaway,” although I doubt the movie was inspired by the service.
Anyway, as for the question, “is it worth considering product integration when writing a script?”
The answer: Absolutely, unless it gets in the way of a stronger script. Citing a specific brand may color a script quickly. However, using a fictional version of a brand may allow for more freedom in some instances (possibly to mock the brand, for example).
June 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
How can we forget Pirates of the Carribean? And to a lesser extent, The Haunted Mansion and The Country Bear Jamboree.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 am
I think the best part of that clip is towards the end when the bad guys roll up and the breakers outside are totally unfazed, they just get out of the way and keep on dancing. It’s like when you used to play football or hockey in the street, CAR! and everyone dashes to the sidelines.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I guess I’m gonna write my paper about Product Placement… haha ;) Just been inspired by Tequila Sunrise – this film is full of it!
June 29th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Clearly, I need to know the name of that movie. I will rent it at once. I love break dancing. And I love McDonalds. Oh, and aliens in bear costumes who break dance awesomely. Pray tell.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:02 am
A living, breathing, sentient film-maker, working in 2008, believes the “gap between commercials and big-screen entertainment [is] just too wide” to negotiate product placement at script stage?
John, John, John…
On the other hand, like nudity, it’s difficult to tell what product placement is gratuitous and what is essential to the plot. In our modern age, brands fill a large slice of personal headspace, for better or worse. They can easily act as a telling detail about personality or social status.
I have heard that Manolo Blahnik provides shoes, but otherwise pays not a dime in cash, in exchange for his position as the fifth member of the quartet in Sex and the City. I have inside info that Harold and Kumar would have gone to White Castle even without the company’s support. And I’m pretty sure that Tiffany & Co. didn’t negotiate with Truman Capote. In ET, when the two sons are sorting through their dad’s shirts, and smell the traces of cologne, did Proctor and Gamble negotiate to mention Old Spice? Probably not: Old Spice, at the time, was such a no-nonsense regular-guy dad-brand that it hints how two boys could miss having a strong male around in what had become Momistan. And could it have been anything else but Orange Tic-Tacs in Juno?
But those are the exceptions. Most big PR companies run huge divisions in Hollywood just to place stuff in film, as I’m sure you are aware. Space in film is so precious, though, that most film-makers can pick and choose. Famous behind the scenes director’s quote: “That car isn’t quite as talented as it seemed in the audition.”