The box-office hit, Transformers, came out with the sequel movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in 2009. The movie is a science fiction action film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Speilberg. The plot revolves around Sam Witwicky, a human caught between a world of two robot entities, the Autobots and Decepticons. Sam and the Autobots are being hunted by the Decepticons, who seek to destroy the Sun and all life on Earth.
The General Motors vehicle main characters in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The movie demonstrated an unprecedented display of product placement, specifically making General Motors automobiles the main characters. What is product placement? The process by which manufacturers or advertisers pay a fee in order for branded products to be prominently displayed in a movie, TV show or other media production. Brands were laced throughout the movie including CNN, Mountain Dew, EBay, Southwest Airlines, Air France, McDonalds, Smartwater, Volvo, LG, Cisco, and Apple. Check out this link to see some visuals of the product placement.
General Motors (GM) clearly stuck straight out to the audience, which was no mistake. The director, Bay, went to every major auto manufacturer with a studio contract to see who would offer the biggest payday. He signed with GM after they offer $3million.
The GM rival Ford Mustang, which played the "bad guy".
Auto manufacture GM cashed in on the popularity of the film since four models of the company’s vehicles have starring roles in the film. The roles of the GM vehicles are where the product placement became more interesting and innovative. GM did not want their vehicles to play the role of the “bad” Decepticons, so instead the Decepticon transforms into a cop car with the body of the GM Camaro’s market rival, the Ford Mustang.
Another example of GM product placement is when a points out how the character, Bumblebee, is just a stinky old Camaro, he zips away and returns … as a brand new 2009 model. This is practically a commercial for GM inside of a movie. Are you getting the message? The 2009 model will be way better than even the classic Camaros. That Chevrolet logo is right in the audiences faces throughout the entire movie.
Check out the trailer:
Julia Watkins 