Product placement is a clever way for studios to fund films by featuring a specific brand’s product in a film, and Ryan Reynolds has cleverly smuggled all four of his brands into a film dead pool 3 To update. But sometimes product placement can be detrimental and backfire.
Between aluminum Christmas trees, New Balance, and pork, Redditors mention the films that temporarily ruined certain consumer products, and in some cases, the products went off the market entirely shortly after the films’ release. Editors may take some liberties with the word “product,” but whether it’s a musical group, a meatball, or an entire industry, users believe they all suffered from their appearances in these films.
pork (babe)
People might think pigs are dirty animals, but infant turns everyone into a pig lover. Wrydied explains: “Sales of pork plummeted afterwards infant movie came out.” Loud The Irish Time, pork sales actually dropped after the film’s release. That’s hardly a surprise since the titular pig is one of the cutest movie animals of all time and it would be hard to eat any kind of meat afterwards.
Indeed acc Vice, The film even motivated its star, James Cromwell, to become vegan. And with the recent success of starring Nicolas Cage Pigwhich follows a truffle hunter’s relationship with a truffle-seeking pig, it’s doubtful the film will have the same effect.
Merlot (side)
Sideways follows Miles, a depressed writer and wine connoisseur who takes a road trip into Santa Barbara County’s wine country. Halfway through the film, Miles yells, “I don’t drink a bloody Merlot!” as he’s being dragged on a double date by his best friend.
Acquire your knowledge by working in a wine shop in Nebraska, Bks1979 explained, “Sideways tanked Merlot, but it also did some stuff in the Pinot Noir industry. When the demand for it increased, everyone and their dog wanted to be there.” Sideways severely affected the wine industry, and gradually NPR, Merlot sales fell 2%, but Pinot Noir sales rose 16% after the film’s release. Ironically, Miles doesn’t want to drink Merlot because he doesn’t like it, but because it’s his ex-wife’s favorite drink.
Aluminum Christmas Trees (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Automirage04 Remarks, “A Charlie Brown Christmas aluminum Christmas trees killed.” In the animated special, the aluminum Christmas tree is used as a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas The Baltimore Sun reports that it was the special that ended the artificial trees’ popularity.
but A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of the most-rerun Christmas films, was first released in 1965, the special only halting the product’s success when aluminum Christmas trees were making a big comeback in the late ’80s. Popularity reached an even higher peak in 2005 than ever before ABCa rare pink aluminum Christmas tree that fetched nearly $4,000 at auction.
Huey Lewis and the News (American Psycho)
In american psycho, Patrick Bateman is a sociopath, a serial killer, and Huey Lewis and the News’ biggest fan. The businessman excitedly spoke about the ’80s band’s hits as he prepared to murder people, and that’s why Your LectorAndBoss believes: “Huey Lewis and the news had destroyed her comeback dreams American psycho.“
Spotify didn’t exist in 2000, so it’s not easy to tell if fans’ listening habits slacked after the film’s release. But the band has toured and released more albums several times since the film’s release, and american psycho would probably have had more of a positive effect on the song, if at all. However, the use of the band and their hit song “Hip To Be Square” in the film negatively impacted Huey Lewis in other ways. Corresponding mliveLewis boycotted the film because a studio press release claimed he was offended by the violence, but he wasn’t at all and he believed the studio said that to add excitement.
Super Size Me
Few documentaries have had such an impact on a specific industry super size me did. The film is a hit at McDonald’s as Morgan Spurlock eats a McDonald’s meal at every meal of the day for an entire month. His health deteriorated significantly, but it led to a positive change in the fast food industry.
Because of the 2004 film, McDonald’s added salads to their menu, and so on quancalizer remarks: “No super size me Kill the Supersize?” Not long after the film’s release, the fast-food chain removed the “supersize” option, but according to it refinery 29a McDonald’s spokesman claimed it had nothing to do with the film and was a total coincidence.
New Balance Sneakers (Crazy Stupid Love)
When discussing which products were ruined by a film, TipProfessional6702 mentioned, “crazy stupid love and New Balances.” New Balance sneakers are trending, but a stylish Ryan Gosling poking fun at a very unstylish Steve Carrell for wearing them probably didn’t add brand awareness.
Funnily enough, that wasn’t the only thing it was crazy stupid love ruined. The 2011 release hasn’t aged well for unexpected reasons, as it references Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s relationship, Steve Jobs, and features a Borders bookstore. And within a year of the film’s release, Moore and Kutcher split, Steve Jobs died, and Borders filed for bankruptcy.
Hostels (hostel)
dimina band believes that the horror film from 2006 hostel must have had a negative impact on the hostel industry back then. The Redditor notes, “I’m not sure if this is a widespread thing or just mine, but it’s been observed ever since hostel, I will never use one. If someone says they have stayed or will stay in a hostel, get nervous for them.”
Though there are no available statistics to back up the drop in hostel occupancy following the film’s release, they say Fantastic Facts, it deeply worried Slovaks about Slovak tourism. Director Eli Roth was apparently invited by Slovakia’s tourism board on a fully-funded trip to the country to prove it’s not full of industrial areas and murderous kids.
Photo development (one hour photo)
One hour photo is about a creepy photo technician who works in a photo developing shop and stalks his customers. Rchoffer blames the thriller for killing the entire industry. User claims “Former photo lab owner here and the Robin Williams film caused a noticeable drop in my business for about a year.”
While the Redditor may be right, and speaking from experience, it’s far from just the 2002 film that killed photo development. Digital photography was becoming more affordable for the general public at this time and it wasn’t long before people were using their cellphones as cameras.
