Genres, periods, and Willie Wonka.

This week Advertising Age reports that "Despite the lack of direct product placement opportunities, Warner Bros. has signed a star cast of tie-in marketing partners for its new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film." Indeed, in typically gushy prose, Ad Age declares that "Nestle USA, Wendy's, Target, Wal-Mart, Amex buy into movie."

A "lack of direct product placement opportunities"? Well, maybe it's true: there are still some movie scripts that resist placement, especially historical dramas (unlike. say, Hollywood's favorite cashcow, the relentlessly upbeat, contemporary, youth-oriented comedy). But why would a highly dependable kids' fantasy about a candy factory leave the placement agents stymied? Perhaps Tim Burton - or the estate of Roald Dahl - put their foot down.

Cheery movies that draw on the recent past are often game for placements, for example Pleasantville or Forrest Gump. And futuristic or sci-fi films provide a great opportunity to suggest that a current-day brand has the future all sewn up. (In Demolition Man (1993), Sandra Bullock's character reminds us that "Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the frnachise wars." So there you go.) But brands are more fragile than examples like this suggest: as the ever-popular 'Blade Runner Curse' attests, very prominent brands can quickly fall from view. In the case of Blade Runner, the list includes Pan Am, Atari, TWA and Cuisine Art.

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