The Best (and Worst) Food Product Placements

[Chris Amirault]

I was talking to a marketing/PR friend he other day, and she said that, bar none, the "buy me some peanuts & Cracker Jack" line from "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is, without question, the best product placement in the history of food marketing. She also claimed that the Reese's Pieces in "E.T.," a slot famously turned down by the M&Ms people, is solidly #2.

Wracked my brains but I couldn't challenge her. Perhaps you can.

As for the worst? My money's on poor, poor merlot, getting beaten up throughout "Sideways" and suffering for years as a result....

[Andrew Fenton]

Dude. Worst food product placement? Have you seen Mac and Me? Well, no, of course you haven't, or else you'd be crouched in a padded cell, hugging yourself and praying for the sweet release of death. But this ET knockoff is notorious for its frequent, heavy-handed product placements. (To give you an idea, the aliens in the movie must drink Coke and eat Skittles to live.)

But it gives me the excuse to post a link to this video, of a scene featuring a dance-off in a McDonalds:

Edited April 18, 2011 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[liuzhou]

The whole McDonald's conversation between Jules and Vincent at the beginning of Pulp Fiction surely ranks among the best - especially with the put down line at the end "I didn' t go into a Burger King."

[Big Mike]

As great as The Sopranos series was, it was riddled with Coca Cola product placement.

[Chris Amirault]

For worst TV product placements, I think that Top Chef takes the cake -- or, rather, a bowl of tasty Bertolli pasta!

[GregW]

The "movie" Judge Dredd. In the future all of the restaurants are Taco Bell

[KD1191]

This Soap Opera product placement for Chex Mix and Cherrios is astonishingly bad.

Wayne's World was already spoofing this sort of thing back in 1992 with their Pizza Hut bit.

[Kim Shook]

Wow - I am really out of the cultural loop, I guess. I kept trying to figure out if any of those could have been faked possibly. Amazing!

[natasha1270]

For worst TV product placements, I think that Top Chef takes the cake -- or, rather, a bowl of tasty Bertolli pasta!

Surely that honor should go to Sandra Lee?!

[Dignan]

The "movie" Judge Dredd. In the future all of the restaurants are Taco Bell

That was Demolition Man.

[natasha1270]

Wanted to add that my vote for one of the most brilliant, interwoven product placements in film would be Lost in Translation. "For a relaxing time, make it Suntory time."

[rooftop1000]

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle...not that I have seen it, yet

tracey