The Oscars 2007

Product placement is rife these days: in movies, television, video games, novels, comics - and now Presidential speeches. George Bush recently plugged kids' videos in his State of the Union Address, and a leading computer brand in his speech on the occasion of Donald Rumsfeld's departure.

The movies continue to be a great place to advertise brandname products. Even the finest examples of Hollywood's yearly output - the Oscar nominees for best movie - are not immune. Sometimes there's just one or two strategic brand appearances, like the packet of Kellogg's Cornflakes in Tony Blair's kitchen in The Queen. In Letters from Iwo Jima, there's a Ford logo centre screen and mention of Johnny Walker whiskey.

As our Movie Mapper database shows, Babel belongs to Coke and Sprite, with a 'plug deluxe' going to Cate Blanchett's character, who wants a Diet Coke but has to settle for a regular Coke. The Departed shows off Coke, Budweiser and Dell, among others. Little Miss Sunshine brings us McDonald's, Coke and Sprite.

If the 'best' movies so readily accommodate brandname products, what can be said of the hundreds of other lesser productions, each of which may save millions of dollars in return for placing products centre frame? In the face of a marketing practice worth billions of dollars a year, the fate of movie-making appears to be sealed.

Posted by Matt Soar, Feb 23, 2007