Tag Archives: Product Placement

ET’s favourite snack – Reese’s Pieces

E.T. –  What a classic!

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – Wikipedia

For those who aren’t familiar with the great 1982 film, E.T. The Extra-terrestrial, here is a little description:

“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote.

It tells the story of Elliott (played by Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed “E.T.”, who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial

Here is the original trailer:

Why Reese’s Pieces?

Reeses PiecesMost of you may have noticed that E.T. enjoyed Reese’s Pieces throughout the movie.

For those of you who are not familiar with the candy, you can read more about Reese’s Pieces on Wikipedia.

“Visionary filmmaker Steven Spielberg has always been a step ahead, and his 1982 alien romp E.T. blazed the trail for modern day product placement. The film was to have a scene where a boy coaxes an abandoned alien by leaving a trail of candy ground.

But not just any candy. The choice was made months prior to production when Spielberg looked for a partnership with a candy company that would promise promotion for his film. The very droppable M&M’s were selected, but the suits at Mars, Inc. refused to have their treats associated with E.T.

However, Hershey was not bothered, as they were hoping to bolster their Reese’s Pieces line. An agreement was made to produce a million dollars’ worth of advertisements for the film, and they plastered E.T.’s face right on the candy’s packaging.

Most Popular Scene:

The product is never mentioned by name here, though customers still had no problem identifying it by the package (as proven by 65% spike in Reese’s Pieces sales after the movie hit theaters).”

The aforementioned, quoted information was adapted from Cracked.com.

Are you impressionable?

Do you fee like eating some Reese’s Pieces right now?

Sadly, I am and yes I am eating some at the moment…

Cheers,
Nahren