This article explores how E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial exemplifies effective product placement in film, serving as a case study in media education for understanding marketing strategies and consumer influence in cinema.
Whether it's the Ace comb James Dean sweeps through his manicured coif in Rebel Without a Cause or the souped up '68 Mustang that Steve McQueen drives in Bullitt, product placement has been a part of movies going back to the advent of the medium. But ask someone to pick a film that exemplifies this long-standing practice and you'll invariably get one answer: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
That's no accident. Even after three decades, few movies have managed to so seamlessly integrate a product into a storyline like Steven Spielberg's suburban fairy tale did in 1982. Seriously. Try finding someone over 30 who can look at a bag of Reese's Pieces without thinking of the film's pudgy, three-foot-tall alien. You won't.
To be fair, you can see why Mars Inc. didn't jump at the opportunity to let a 10-million-year-old space visitor with penis fingers and a face modeled after Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein, and a pug help sell candy. But that now-famous M&M balk was a massive payday for its rival, Hershey's.
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After investing $1 million in an ad tie-in for E.T., which included the rights to use the movie's name and characters on its products, sales of the company's new candies tripled within two weeks, according to Joël Glenn Brenner's The Emperors of Chocolate. In many cases, vendors couldn't meet demand for months.
E.T.'s positive critical reception and otherworldly box office success certainly didn't hurt branding efforts either. It wasn't just the highest grossing film of 1982; for 11 years, it stood as the most successful movie in film history---until Spielberg broke his own record with Jurassic Park.
But while the Reese's Pieces tie-in is what audiences remember, candy wasn't the only successful product integration in the film. Elliot's room, like the real and fictional rooms of many adolescent boys in the early '80s, is basically a Kenner Star Wars toy factory. If you're quick on the pause button, you can find all manner of branded plugs, from bikes, beer, and board games to a rotating cast of other awesome '80s gear.
So grab a bag of bite-sized peanut-flavored penuche treats and revisit some of the non-edible items that helped make E.T. the leading innovator of cinematic product placement.