Spotting obvious product placements in movies nowadays has been a biting scavenger hunt to mock on. Thankfully, it wears off its luster when they try to subtly add them in the scenes without being blatant. But that does not excuse for the following movies for projecting product placement to the faces of the audience, either as a logo projection or as a plot point. But in both ways, they are truly distracting to be taken seriously.
Here are the 10 most shameless product placements in movies from 2019. And given the nature of the scenes for these movies, spoilers ahead.
Dixie Beer in Wounds
The premise of this Netflix horror movie starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson and Zazie Beetz is that Hammer stumbles upon a cellphone left at his bar that allows a supernatural, occult presence to crumble every part of his life.
While the phone is thankfully covered in a distracting yellow cover, it seems that the only alcohol that Armie Hammer’s bartender and his patrons consume is Dixie Beer, whose bar sign is prominently highlighted in one shot. Though there is Pabst Beer, nothing speaks more to a haunting depiction of a man’s destructive alcoholism than being loyal to one beer brand.
Post Fruity Pebbles Cereal in Cold Pursuit
Cold Pursuit is a tongue-in-cheek action that pulls Liam Neeson back to manhunting mode since his Taken days. Despite his untimely comments, the movie still delivers on its snow-laden thrills and surprising dark humor.
On one bit, the main antagonist Viking (played by Tom Bateman) insisted that his sons and his goons be fed strictly and avoid sugary cereals. Sure enough, one scene showed one of his goons Mustang (played by Domenick Lombardozzi) feeding Viking’s son with Fruity Pebbles. Every cut would always feature the front logo as the child and the goon discuss about fantasy football. It’s just funny.
MAC Cosmetics in Tall Girl
Back to Netflix, it seems that the platform is a breeding ground for cheesy young-adult movies. Case in point, the McG-produced Tall Girl, which is arguably the most talked-about YA Netflix film of the year, for better or worse.
The movie is centered on a girl named Jodi who is 6 ft. 1 ½ inches tall, yet is still bullied by her classmates despite her pretty looks. Yet, she is taking a step “forward” to gain the attention of her foreign exchange classmate. Cue obligatory makeover montage that involves her beauty queen sister and mother in a MAC Makeup Studio.
Lyft in Booksmart
Booksmart is an overlooked teen comedy that centers on two high school senior bookworms who seize their last day of high school with wild partying.
While it deserves notice for its empowering tribute to female friendships, the movie should not be given notice to its obvious product placement of Lyft. For the scene, after they visited an unauthorized yacht party, Kaitlyn Dever’s Amy and Beanie Feldstein’s Molly called up a Lyft, where their driver is their principal, played by Jason Sudeikis. There is one shot where the Lyft logo is prominently displayed in a world where Uber does not exist.
Audi in Avengers: Endgame
The penultimate film of the Avengers saga may certainly be the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, but it is not impenetrable even to being acknowledged of its blatant product placement.
It is easy to mock the MCU for its obvious Audi advertising. But nothing comes close to its stylish flexing than the comeback scene where Tony Stark drives to the Avengers headquarters using the E-Tron GT Concept model (on its theatrical debut), with Steve Rogers at awe of Stark speeding to the place. On just thirty seconds, it seems on character for Tony Stark to show off his new Audi.
Pantene in Isn’t It Romantic
It is really obligatory for a rom-com to insert a beauty product on the movie. Though, for this case of putting a satirical spin to the genre, it is acceptable to say the least.
Yet, it is worth noting of how the shampoo brand Pantene was incorporated to the movie. Rebel Wilson’s character Natalie pointed how come her coworker (and eventual love interest) Adam DeVine’s character keeps his eyes on a Pantene billboard, featuring Priyanka Chopra, who is already a Pantene ambassador.
With the way it was featured, the post-production graphic placement of the billboard makes it more blatant.
United Airlines in Spider-Man: Far From Home
The second MCU Spider-Man movie is clearly a cleansing palette after the behemoth Endgame. So with its premise of a European vacation, it is obvious that it needs a scene in an airplane. And what better airline would be for a high school European tour than via United Airlines.
For an amount of four minutes, while this scene covers Peter Parker attempting to have MJ sit beside him, it clearly showcases the airline’s perks like friendly service, comfy seats and MCU-themed in-flight movies. That scene almost felt like a long advertisement, considering that Spider-Man also appeared in United’s safety videos.
Pepsi in Yesterday
The concept of the quasi-musical Yesterday is that one guy (and two more people) is the only one who remembers the Beatles and their songs. After the guy Jack discovered that, he wrote down all the Beatles songs that he remembered and used them to achieve musical fame.
Throughout, this Danny Boyle-directed what-if comedy, Jack also discovered other things that did not exist in his current reality, like the band Oasis, the Harry Potter books, the concept of cigarettes and Coke. Thus, it becomes a marketing ploy for Pepsi to shove in every mention and display of their blue can.
Playmobil in Playmobil the Movie
Shockingly, in a movie called Playmobil the Movie, Playmobil was too much marketed throughout this bomb. In what is supposed to be a warmhearted adventure in the same levels of The Lego Movie, it opts to be a blatant commercial for Playmobil.
And the huge bit of cynicism is manifested in a pivotal scene where the girl Martha (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and her brother Charlie barged in a toy convention and stumbled upon a Playmobil toy display. And that scenes showed off its signature Playmobil toy sets to brazenness. And yet, its affection with the toy felt inconsistent throughout.
Claritin (and Allegra) in Murder Mystery
A list about product placement would not be complete without an Adam Sandler movie. While he did the critically acclaimed Uncut Gems, he also starred in another vacation movie for Netflix with his Just Go with It costar Jennifer Aniston.
The first twenty minutes is a good start to say that 50% of this comedy is a Claritin commercial when Sandler argues to Aniston about the differences between Allegra and Claritin (and Sandler conveniently bashes Allegra). That argument became a recurring theme throughout the movie, and was indeed integral to the titular murder mystery. That is how cynical it is.