I hope you’re not suggesting that Be Totally Flamin’ Obvious Protein Oats have no artistic value; they can be used as wallpaper paste. Ooh, another £5.
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Oh, I’m perfectly certain that Fleming wouldn’t have, had he been aware that loadsamoney could be made with that. The idea of product placement for money was totally beyond him.
That said, I’d love to quote that part of your post, as well
hoping for a fiver to be coming my way.
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Did someone say money?
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I did it and my wallpaper is still up. Well, the parts the cat left of it…
Fleming’s use of the brand names was from before brands put their name in twelve inch characters on the front of sweatshop fabrics and let customers advertise for them*. For all we know his product placement also didn’t earn him more than some soap and shampoo for his receding hair.
He wasn’t above citing advertising lingo and it’s not actually clear whether this was tongue-in-cheek or not. But he could just as well mock Camay soap in favour of something less flowery. Also odd how he mentions the use of a Gillette razor as a makeshift weapon (without actually using it then) only to later praise a Hoffritz razor as ‘so much better than Gillette’s product’ - omitting that Hoffritz apparently bought their stuff in Germany at Merkur. But it’s no doubt much more classy and exclusive to buy one at Hoffritz in New York than in Solingen.
The brands in Fleming’s œuvre are nothing but props, quick inserts to paint the scene’s backdrop with a single word. Rarely do they provide a function for the action like Drax’ Mercedes or Blofeld’s Maserati.
Station Z’s head is observed by Spectre from a black Porsche, Draco offers Jack Daniels in his trailer, Drax races across England in a garishly white Mercedes but wears an almost discrete Patek Philippe - none of it is central to the plot. But atmosphere is another matter, and in Bond’s world the atmosphere is a major part of the attraction* *.
In the films however the brands need to take front and centre, at least for their moments of glory when they are knighted by an appearance in a Bond film. Somewhere at Audi they probably still have a big THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS cardboard stand beside the ride Timothy Dalton sat in for all of 15 seconds in the film. And would likely be only too willing to replace a certain British manufacturer currently choking on its own history…
Such is life.
*There’s even an anecdote somewhere about Fleming discussing Bentleys with a friend. Fleming resolutely argued to do away with the ‘flying B’ if he ever bought one because he didn’t want to advertise for them for free. Ian Fleming, grandfather of the no-logo movement…
**This may also be where John Gardner often struggled: he just wasn’t able to drop a brand where it serves the atmosphere and then leave it well alone.
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Sacred cow at the Audi museum in Ingolstadt. They won’t rent it out for other exhibitions, not even for a wheelbarrow full of money.
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They did drop, but with a clang. Still, not as bad as Carte Blanche where one recalls a conversation with Moneypenny about “Oakleys” which still makes me shudder and feel utterly hollow.
Until a nice bowl of Be Totally Flamin’ Obvious Protein Oats fills that space very nicely. £££.
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Don’t you wish sometimes that Dustin wasn’t always so circumspect about his sentiments?
SInce I do not drive, I miss the car placements (though Scaramanga’s car is my favorite in the series). I also miss the timepiece inclusions as well. Thanks to this community, I am going to start paying attention to Bond’s wrists going forward.
I do love MR’s 7-UP placement when the cable car crashes, and the BOAC billboard that the stretcher crashes into. Speaking of that billboard: it would be interesting to document all the products which no longer exist and/or are now known under a different name.
My nomination for best product placement–the city of Las Vegas in DAF (do I sense a poll possibility? Heck–we gotta do something between now and April 2021).
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If I say Be Totally Flamin’ Obvious Protein Oats three times, do I suddenly get a free box on my driveway?
You’ll have to mail in a recording. You may win if you do it in less than 3 seconds.
Second prize: as many laundromats as you can carry away with one hand
Third prize: an excavator ride in the Cotswolds (we’ll provide the Cotswolds, gotta bring your own excavator)
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No but someone may come to take you away to a safe place
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It’s a ponzi scheme, I’m blooming swimming in the stuff now!
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German magazine Spiegel picks up the Sun rumour two days later…
Nothing new in the article, it’s a rehash without more detail than was peddled already.
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Both the box and the driveway are likely to taste better.
…and all the money suddenly disappears.
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Big news with regards to the UK release of NTTD…
Previously this would have meant the VOD, Blu-ray and DVD would have come out late January. Now, late November (possibly even early depending on whether the COVID situation at that point would let studios go for the 31 day window)
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Hopefully this will also happen around the world!
Only country where this definitely isn’t happening is France where the windows are enshrined in law (and I believe the current COVID provision is that distributors can release earlier than customary but they have to pay some tax to the French government).
In the US, given WB will presumably still be going with the HBO Max thing and Universal of course with the 17/31 day window, not hard to imagine 31 days being an easy sell on MGM’s part.
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The problem is that MGM’s collection of great movies is dated and losing value by the minute. Barbara Broccoli and her half brother Michael G. Wilson, who maintain an iron grip over the Bond franchise — a deal initially hammered out decades ago by Broccoli’s father, producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli — have the final say over casting decisions, dialog and promotional materials related to 007 — adding complexity to any deal talks.
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Between the above and the new UK theatrical window news - I do think chances of October sticking are good.
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Hopefully
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I don’t think there is almost anyway that MGM sells for $10 billion.