{"id":1289,"date":"2013-12-22T13:20:04","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T20:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theloungeisback.wordpress.com\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2014-01-25T07:31:33","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T07:31:33","slug":"the-history-of-cigarettes-and-product-placement-in-superman-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1289","title":{"rendered":"Superman’s sordid history of marketing cigarettes … and then battling smoking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Superman<\/a>
Superman coming out of one of those ubiquitous Marlboro trucks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just watched Man of Steel and had to absolutely crack up at the nonstop product placement <\/a>through the whole movie — man, I really hadn’t noticed product placement in a movie in years. Man of Steel was one of the more blatant I’ve ever seen — Superman has a battle with Zod’s minions in the streets of Smalltown, right in front of a 7\/11, then in front of a Sears, then Zod’s minion picks up a U-Haul van and throws it at Superman, then Superman throws one of the baddies through the wall of an IHOP (there’s also an obvious ad for Nokia earlier in the movie.). Pretty funny. Like, we’re too stupid to notice. This movie grossed more than $500 million worldwide, do they really need the extra $100 million from advertisers?<\/p>\n

Anyway, the reason this resonates with me, is the 1978 and 1980 version of Superman (and Superman II) is an absolutely despicable chapter in the sordid marriage between Big Tobacco and Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\"superman211\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Product placement in Hollywood films began in the 1970s, and Big Tobacco was quick to join in. There was also a long history of Hollywood glamorizing smoking in films, but the tobacco industry never had to pay a nickel of advertising — Hollywood was literally doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.<\/p>\n

That changed in 1978 with Superman and Superman II (actually filmed as a single production). Philip Morris not only paid to have Marlboro logos put into Superman movies, they also paid to have Lois Lane chain smoke through the movie — Lois Lane never smoked in the comic book. What’s especially craven about this is those Superman movies as we all know were geared toward kids and teens. They were rated PG and were wildly popular with kids, like Star Wars and Close Encounters. I mean, the whole thing is just criminal to me (since cigarette advertising had been banned on TV for eight years because kids watch TV), on both the part of Philip Morris and the Hollywood studios (three studios were involved in the Superman movies, including Warner Bros.).<\/p>\n