Josie And The Pussycats (2001)
Evolution (2001)
"Let's shampoo us some aliens!"
The Product Placement: Head & Shoulders.
Why It's Grim: This feels like a boardroom gag that should never have made it into the film's script, as an alien-killing formula is put into a brand of shampoo.
Har-har. No we're not laughing either.
Impact On Sales: Unknown.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
"Violence and technology... not good bedfellows!"
The Product Placement: Mercedes Benz SUV.
Why It's Grim: Not only was this part of a roll-out of the new Mercedes Benz SUV, Spielberg even reportedly framed a particular shot so that we got a great view of the Benz logo - something the company's tie-in ads capitalised on.
Impact On Sales: Undetermined, though we know which car we'll be buying if dinosaurs ever take over the world again.
Happy Gilmore (1996)
"Let me just sit here and enjoy the one thing that makes a little bit happy…"
The Product Placement: Subway.
Why It's Grim: It's a total rip-off of the exact same gag in Wayne's World , only with Adam Sander tucking into a giant sandwich. Shudder.
Impact On Sales: Undetermined, though if anything we imagine sales dipped after Sandler endorsed Subway.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
"I don't see a dolphin around here, do you?"
The Product Placement: Miami Dolphins.
Why It's Great: This one's great mostly because it's rare - the NFL generally don't allow real football teams to appear in movies, but for some reason they permitted the Miami Dolphins to be featured in Ace Ventura. Lucky us.
Impact On Sales: Unknown, though pretty much every movie fan now knows who the Miami Dolphins are, which has to count for something.
Sideways (2004)
"Twenty-four hours with some wine-pourer chick and you're fucking in love?"
The Product Placement: California wines.
Why It's Great: It's an excuse to watch Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church get pissed and make fools of themselves.
Impact On Sales: Giamatti's character makes his feelings about merlot clear, and US sales of merlot dropped 2% in 2004.
In better news, sales of the Blackstone brand boomed by 150%. Ah, the power of drinking in the movies.
Risky Business (1983)
"Porsche. There is no substitute."
The Product Placement: Ray-Bans.
Why It's Great: Tom Cruise looks so cool in his Ray-Bans that you totally forget about all the product placement and just sit back in admiration - while wishing you looked that cool in Ray-Bans.
Impact On Sales: Over 360,000 pairs of Ray-Ban Wayfarers were sold the same year that the film was released.
Zombieland (2009)
"Sno-Balls? Sno-Balls? Where's the fucking Twinkies?"
The Product Placement: Twinkie.
Why It's Great: It's utter madness, with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) on a quest to find the last Twinkie before it goes out of date.
Impact On Sales: Unknown, though with Tallahassee revealing that Twinkies have an expiration date, we expect people were more cautious when tucking in.
Return Of The Killer Tomatoes! (1988)
"The girl of my dreams is a vegetable!"
The Product Placement: Pepsi and Honda.
Why It's Great: George Clooney breaks character to face the camera and pitch a variety of delightful products that audience members might want to buy. Useful.
Impact On Sales: Well, pretty much nobody saw the movie, so we doubt there was much of an impact.
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)
"He's not selling out, he's buying in."
The Product Placement: Every product ever.
Why It's Great: It's all about exposing product placement and investigating its role in modern culture.
Which sort of excuses the blatant brand pushing, right?
Impact On Sales: No one product is singled out for particular praise, meaning it's difficult to tell if Morgan Spurlock should be billing anyone.
