How McDonald’s has conveniently removed the shame from obvious product placement in television and film

Do you remember the days of blatant product placement in film and TV? You’d see a can of Pepsi in a scene, strategically placed on the table, or a particular box of cereal on a breakfast counter, and just know that big bucks were exchanged to get that product in front of you. In fact you’d kind of feel shame for the company that paid to place said product – and embarrassment for it since the brand makers tried so hard to make the product look like casual ‘mis-en-scene’ when it was blaringly obvious that it’d been contrivedly placed.

Nike have done it with their sneakers, Kellogg’s have done it with their Corn Flakes, and we can all recall a certain brand of sunglasses that were posited on the head of Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

When these brands got called out for their unabashed product placement, many would try to cover it up, pretending the placement wasn’t actually planned or paid for. Liars!

Nowadays, with the need for transparency a main factor in marketing (think Instagram influencers needing to declare certain products which have been sent to them for free), it appears that past blatant branding exercises are ones to be unabashedly proud of.

Take the latest advert by McDonald’s which features snippets from films and TV shows that have featured McDonald’s products in them. The one-minute ad, which is currently airing on TV and doing the rounds online, features no less than 18 movies, shows and even music videos that happen to have McDonald’s in their script or sub-plot.

The latest ad is actually in promotion of their “As Featured In Meal”*, a combo meal including menu items mentioned in iconic films and television programs. It follows on from McDonald’s wild success with its “Famous Order” platform, a series of meals inspired by the go-to orders of celebrities such as Travis Scott, Cardi B, and Saweetie.

Familiar scenes in the latest ad include takes from Friends (‘The One With the Bullies’ episode), 30 Rock, The Fifth Element, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Office, Richie Rich, Coming To America, Reality Bites, Seinfeld (‘The Boyfriend’ episode), The Longest Yard, and Clueless, right up until a recent scene in Loki.

But wait, there’s more. After the advertisement has gone through its list of film and TV credits, there’s one final snippet from the latest Loki featuring Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius “enjoying a meal like gentlemen” with Rafael Casal as a TVA prisoner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfov7TaGSU

It’s a tactic that has served McDonald’s well in entertainment media. Taking iconic characters and ‘normalising’ them with the simple addition of a fast food diet. It’s all very reminiscent of that famous scene in Pulp Fiction where Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules and John Travolta’s Vincent are casually talking about Quarter Pounders with Cheese – or Royales with Cheese as they are called in Paris. Juxtaposed with some poor sod being picked on for his ‘Big Kahuna’ burger, the scene did the clever trick of putting McDonald’s at the fore of viewers’ minds. After all, in the scheme of shoddy fast food, surely a ‘Royale with Cheese’ is going to seem more appealing than some fictional Big Kahuna burger.

There’s something about a big-time hitman enjoying the simplicity of an everyday burger that really resonated with audiences, and since then we have seen trivial (usually fast) food conversations taking place between key characters in many movies and TV shows.

With its latest ad campaign, McDonald’s could well be setting the standard for marketing tactics to come: big brands wishing to see their products featured in films and TV shows, perhaps even in music videos. We’re pretty sure that, soon, all manner of branding will be appearing in movies and our favourite TV shows, perhaps even in music videos. But that shouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience, considering all the annoying pop-up windows we’re (only just) putting up with online.

For other examples of blatant product placement in film and TV, check out the list below.

Lisa Andrews & Antonino Tati

* For the record, the ‘As Featured In Meal’ includes a choice of 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, Big Mac, Quarter Pounder or Fillet-O-Fish, along with medium or large fries and a medium or large soft drink. There’s also a newly-branded Sweet ’n Sour Sauce to accompany the Chicken McNuggets – inspired by the second season of Marvel’s Loki.

EXAMPLES OF OBVIOUS PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN FILM AND TV SHOWS:

Wayne’s World: Pizza Hut, Doritos, Pepsi, Reebok and many others
Various Bond films: Aston Martin, Heineken
Iron Man: Audi
Toy Story 2: Etch-a-Sketch
Cast Away: FedEx
Forrest Gump: Nike
Spider-Man: Doritos
ET: Reese’s Pieces
iRobot: Audi
Back To The Future: Nike
Jerry Maguire: Reebok
Mac & Me: McDonald’s
The Italian Job: Mini Cooper
The Internship: Google
Avengers – EndGame: Audi
New Girl: Ford
90210: Dr Pepper
Sex And The City: Manolo Blahnik
Seinfeld: Junior Mints
Modern Family: Apple
Mad Men: Heineken
Community: Kentucky Fried Chicken