Product placement in movies is now so overdone that we may not even notice it unless a particular film or TV show really hits us over the head with a blatant in-your-face product shot. Otherwise, seeing commercial goods everywhere merely seems like everyday life in capitalist America. Just look at any of the websites that tally up products spotlighted in mainstream movies and you’ll probably be surprised (though not shocked) at how many brands appear in each new release. Did you notice that Blades of Glorycontains 38 separate products? Probably not. Many of those products couldn’t have gotten their money’s worth, because the movie doesn’t allow the audience to walk away recalling any one particular item.
At a time when TV’s Top Chef and 30 Rock show us how lame blatantly whorish and ironic product placement can get, and while moviegoers are being subjected to more subliminal, suggestive and unintentional advertisements (Speed Racer, Wall-E and Beverly Hills Chihuahuarespectively have us thinking about McDonalds, Apple products and Taco Bell, though some of these associations are not necessarily the movie’s fault), it’s good to remember that not all product placement is superfluous or despicable. Some of it is actually funny, smart and beneficial to mankind.
A lot of people have wondered how a brilliant film like Ratatouillecould be denied a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Well, I’ve finally uncovered the conspiracy, and it involves food, obviously. See, Ratatouille celebrates great French cuisine. But apparently the Academy is in the pockets of the American fast food industry, because all five of the Best Picture contenders have some sort of connection to the greasy, fatty and popular foods that keep America overweight and complacent.
What, you don’t believe me? OK, well here’s the obvious ones: There Will Be Bloodhas a line about drinking milkshakes (the line is now such a popular catch phrase, I’m shocked McDonalds hasn’t yet given its customers a movie tie-in); Junohas a hamburger phone; No Country For Old Menhas that slaughterhouse bolt pistol. Now here’s the less noticeable and the real stretch: Michael Claytondeals with a fictional company called U-North, which is pretty much supposed to be the real company Monsato, which got its start as the supplier of saccharin, caffeine and vanillin to Coca-Cola; and Atonementis the latest film to have a “small fry” actress nominated for an Oscar (yeah, that’s all I’ve got).
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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