Jurassic World & Other Blatant Product Placements
I watched Jurassic World on the weekend… YAY! First things first, it’s an awesome movie which completely lived up to my expectations but wait… did Mercedes sponsor it? It prompted me to take a look at Jurassic World & Other Blatant Product Placements in movies.
From the first moment when character Claire hops into her shiny GLE Coupe (yes I had to Google the make) it became very obvious to me that this was more than just a fleeting appearance. The camera angle pans in on the shiny Mercedes logo on many occasions ultimately featuring 5 models; the GLE Coupé, G-Class, G 63 AMG 6×6, Unimog and Sprinter Van in various thrilling dino chases. WOW that’s a lot of Mercedes!
Actually though, this is nothing new because in 1997 the Mercedes-Benz M-Class was featured in The Lost World: Jurassic Park so it’s not a new pairing.
“We are delighted to continue our partnership with a multitude of Mercedes-Benz vehicles and will promote the film and our cars with many exciting global marketing activities.”
Jens Thiemer, vice president of marketing for Mercedes
In fact, the product placements in Jurassic World are fairly relentless. Jurassic park-goers can be seen drinking Starbucks, the cool kid can be seen rocking his Beats by Dre and raptor wrangler Chris Pratt enjoys refreshing swigs of Coca-Cola. Shops within the park include Pandora the jewellery store whilst references to Ebay are made about the purchase of an original Jurassic Park tshirt.
Some of the product tie ins have even been made into a joke within the script as the biggest and scariest dinosaur is sponsored by Verizon Wireless eg Verizon Wireless presents The Indominus Rex.
More Blatant Product Placements
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The Terminal (Burger King)
Another movie that I love, The Terminal (also Spielberg), is set inside an airport terminal where the lead character played by Tom Hanks is forced to survive there. Saving up via ingenious methods, Tom Hanks’ character manages to earn himself a Burger King Whopper meal. In fact, an entire scene features Hanks lifting the succulent burger to his mouth … cue heroic weepy music!
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Jaws 2 (Cheerios)
Who would have thought that a movie about a killer shark would manage to contain blatant product placements for a breakfast cereal! Jaws 2 was a summer blockbuster which put audiences on the edge of their seats. There are three scenes in the movie which feature a box of cheerios on the breakfast table. One scene even works the breakfast cereal into the dialogue as follows:
- 00:25:11 – I want Froot Loops. – Eat Cheerios.
- 00:25:14-You eat Cheerios, I want Froot Loops.
- 00:25:16 You eat Cheerios
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E.T (Reeses’s Pieces)
One of my all time favourite movies, ET is the story of a loveable alien who makes friends with a little boy in suburban America. Everyone loves E.T but in the movie ET really loves Reese’s Pieces! Spielberg wasn’t paid to use the product and originally wanted to use M&Ms but Mars declined thinking the movie would be a flop…. ooops! Luckily for Hershey’s their product was heavily featured and their profits went up by 65%!
Product placement is big business and obviously it works otherwise companies would not continue to do it! This form of subliminal (not so subliminal in Jurassic World) advertising promotes brand awareness and even the desire to go out and purchase the product.
Do product placements in movies annoy you or do you think they are acceptable? Do you think that you are influenced by them? Tweet me @charli_says and let me know.
