movies as marketing vehicles

edward jay epstein, whose slate 'hollywood economist' columns deals with show biz math including
international financing loopholes and the numbers behind the numbers, goes through product placement in movies.

while the bond movies were landmark--with the fancy cars and recent entries garnering $30 million in deals prior to release. current product placement puts it to shame. as one insider notes

"Product placement gigs will become a major source of production financing in the future, in which a movie provides a controlled world of good-looking stars wearing a certain brand of clothing for an hour and a half, in exchange for which the brand manufacturer pays for a large share of the production."

notwithstanding one anecdote about oliver extracting free cowboy boots by grinding the production of natural born killers to a halt, movie product placement proves a win-win for the advertiser and show biz--but not necessarily the audience