From Mercedes-Benz to Rockport, there was no end to the hidden messages pushed at consumers throughout the movie.
Another recent Spielberg film - Minority Report - featured no less than 15 major brands, including Gap, American Express, Nokia and Pepsi. So they paid a total of US$25 million to be part of the action and movie-goers were left with little choice but to have them encroach on our leisure time.
Product placement is nothing new. But as advertisers and marketers think of new ways to integrate brands into consumers' daily lives, films and television shows are becoming prime target.
The fact is that advertisers get a good deal when it comes to product placement in movies. Not only do they get their brand message across, but they also get a celebrity endorsement.
Certainly, having Tom Cruise take a sip of your soft drink brand is likely to have a stronger impact than just an average television commercial featuring a model.
However, we have to ask ourselves 'when is there too much product placement?'.
The growth in product placement is clearly evolving drastically, fuelled by technological innovations. Today, it is even possible to insert your product into old films, beware Citizen Kane.
That's all well and good, but we are all consumers at the end of the day, and do we really want to get to the point where we leave the cinema asking ourselves, "is this a film, or just a big-budget TVC?".
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