cinema

product placement in politics

i watched the new transformers movie the other day. quick review: the cgi blew me away, everything else just fucking blew.

the worst thing though was the product placement for ebay, culminating in one of the funniest product placement moments in history (i don’t want to spoil it for you but let’s just say that a huge, menacing, shape-shifting robot growling the words “ebay” and “ladiesman217″ in a threatening manner amounts to criminal direction in my opinion).

anyway, got me wondering about product placement in other walks of life, particularly politics. surely no politician or party would stoop so low as to sneakily advertise a product for some kind of gain?

tony blair

in 2005, tony blair decided to ask anthony minghella (english patient, cold mountain) to direct a labour party election broadcast - the oscar-worthy short consisted of blair and george brown chatting about policies and looking loved-up in a beautifully natural setting. i for one was surprised when they didn’t rip each other’s cleanly pressed clothing off and make love on the table top, until i realised that a couple of gleaming bottles of ‘highland spring mineral water’ had already reserved said table, thus rendering the surface out-of-bounds for any hardcore politician-based action.

you can watch a blurred version of the short below. either no youtube uploaders own a clear copy or the authorities decided to censor the soft-drink sponsored lovefest following mass complaints.

arnold schwarzenegger

this little gem, released in 2005, was a campaign ad and featured the future governor chatting to colleagues in what seems to be a canteen. on the dinner table are clearly the following brands:

pepsi, arrowhead water, cheetos, sun chips, sobe and ruffles

all brands are owned by either nestle or pepsi and these 2 monsters donated, in total, $279,800 to arnie’s campaign. hmm, smells fishy. many groups called for the ad to be banned and/or the financial backing to be given back to the advertisers donors.

my advice? don’t give the terminator a governor’s job in the first place. he’s clearly a machine with no morals.

video below…

george bush jr

you can always count on dubya.

november 8th, 2006: bush was giving a press conference and decided to namecheck the company that donates a ginormous amount of money to bush’s election campaigns. i’d normally be prepared to let this go due to the fact that he’s pretty much brainless but think about it - who ever thinks of dell when trying to come up with a tv manufacturer?

watch with your eyes…

ronald reagan

’soon after ronald reagan became governor of california in 1967, he began eating “pectin” jelly beans made by herman goelitz candy company, in order to help him give up a pipe-smoking habit. when herman goelitz’s jelly bellies first appeared on the market in 1976, reagan quickly switched to them. three-and-a-half tons of jelly bellies were shipped to the white house for the 1981 inaugural festivities. blueberry, one of the most popular current flavors, was developed for president reagan’s inauguration so that there would be red, white and blue jelly beans at the festivities.’ from here.

check out the jar of goodies at his desk.

extras:

- saddam hussein’s capture.

above is a picture of saddam’s final hideway, click on it for a bigger version. then read this funny article.

- here’s one of my favourite ever movie product placement moments.

that must have been about a minute of quality screen time for fedex, plus a gag enforcing the supposed prompt delivery service they offer. the whole thing is fucking hilarious: the logo is always unobscured, the joke is shit and the actual vehicle must be the cleanest white van i’ve ever witnessed.

real white van:

- a classic scene from wayne’s world…

- a quick word from david lynch:

nicely said.

- go here to see lists of all the brands that have appeared in cinema over the past few years.

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