One thing I forgot to mention in my review of Josie & The Pussycats was the insanely out of control product placements. I mean how many products can you possibly promote in a movie. There were more products promoted in the first ten minutes of this movie than in the entirety of others.
This of course tied in with the plot; it was a gag: media and corporations egregiously promoting their products everywhere in every way; trying to create subliminal suggestions to change your behavior. This particular plot device was way over exaggerated of course, but the truth is, everywhere you go in our society, everyday, someone is trying to sell you something. But with the amount of products placed in each scene, it's more likely that they succeeded in confusion; white noise. Simply watch the movie, and when it's over, write down as many products you think you saw. I'm betting you'll have only remembered maybe 10%.
After I watched the movie, I Googled "most products promoted in a movie." What I was expecting to find was a list of movies with the most products promoted. That is, the most amount of individual products promoted in a movie. What I found was a Rolling Stone article which listed films like E.T., for Reeses Pieces; Cast Away for FedEx; and the most obvious one, The Internship for Google. These are the obvious ones. The list goes on and on.
The article is pretty good, it's worth looking at. I've always loved watching for product placements in movies and TV. I know that may seem like counting blades of grass to some, but I think it's the Graphic Designer in me. And of course, my favorite part of the Superbowl is the commercials.
It intrigues me to see how they work an iPhone into a movie or TV show. It also intrigues me to see the lengths they go to make a fake product look like a real product, or conceal a logo or other identifying feature to hide what it really is. Like when they make a computer logo look like another piece of fruit, or put a silver sticker over the Apple logo; to make a laptop look exactly like a Mac, but not.