I watched a review from humor review site, http://redlettermedia.com/ (warning strong language). They reviewed the recent Adam Sandler movie Jack and Jill. They tear the movie apart criticizing the poor writing, acting, and crude humor of the film. But what really struck me the most about this review was something that I had certainly always been aware of but, I suppose, never fully recognized how prominent of an issue it was. And that is product placement and advertising in films.
This movie is essentially a scam reminiscent of the musical and film The Producers. They made this piece of crap film with a bloated budget without caring how well it does knowing that anything with Adam Sandler in it will probably draw enough of a crowd to break even. Then they make a large sum of money by including copious amounts of product placement and advertising in the movie itself; the most egregious example of which is what the review refers to as “literally a commercial in the movie”. This goes to show how powerful a tool advertisement and brand recognition can be that large corporations are willing to part with huge sums of money just to reinforce their brand in the minds of consumers.