Jurassic World knocks product placement out of the "park."

Because Hummers are so 2002!

If you read my very first post on this blog, then you know that when I was a wee lad the film Jurassic Park is what made me first start noticing product placement in films. While I still don’t own that Ford Explorer, my love for product place is still strong. While a lot of people are concerned with the plot of the films, the dinosaurs that are appearing, and even the cast, I am more concerned with what products are going to be destroyed by a T-Rex who is having a bad day. Well, Pics of Jurassic World are starting to surface, and this young fella has a lot to look forward too.

The most important aspect to any product placement is the car tie-in. The first Jurassic Park had two versions of this placed in the film. The Ford Explorer as we know was prominent in the film as well as the Jeep Wrangler. Both were executed well. In the second film we saw the debut of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class. While it was a pretty

cool car, it was not really practical for the film. The third film had no vehicle placement and was thus awful. In this new installment we are visited by an old friend, Pics have surfaced of the original Jeep Wrangler being used in this film. Rumor has it the characters go back to the original visitor’s center at some point. So, cool, the Wrangler is back. However, a former brand partner comes back in like a wrecking ball in the form of a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, and the “beyond ridiculous” Mercedes-Benz G63 6x6. The G-Wagon is a classic SUV from the German automaker. It’s classy and cool. The 6x6 however is what happens when a car is inspired by overcompensation.   While both cars are pretty cool, it really does not make sense that they are in the film. The G Wagon is about $100,000. The 6x6 is about $400.000. Now the plot of this film is that the park is now functional but struggling to keep its doors open. Perhaps they could save some money by not buying company cars that are nearly half a million bucks. So, I would count this as a loss for the product placement scale.

I do wonder what is under that tape.

Last night pics surfaced of the Jurassic World brochure that guests would receive upon entering the park. From what I can tell there are no fewer than four brands represented on this brochure. Those brands include FedEx Office, Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Starbucks. Wow, product placement overload. Let’s quickly examine these brand partners.

Coke: Honestly this makes the most sense. This is a theme park after all. Any realistic tourist venue, especially a theme park, would have an official soft drink partner. If you've

ever been to a place like Six Flags, or even a football stadium, you see their logos everywhere. Thankfully

Coke is the partner here, and not those skanks from Pepsi. (Just kidding.)

Starbucks: It makes sense. Pretentious people go to theme parks too, and they crave overpriced coffee. Recently I was at a NASCAR race and they so much more than just beer and hot dogs. So this once again makes sense that a Starbucks would be in the park.

Samsung: A technology partner at a futuristic theme park where dinosaurs escape seems logical to me. I like the choice of Samsung over Apple as I personally have a Galaxy Note 3. It’s the unofficial official phone of this blog.

FedEx Office: I will call this one a bit of a stretch. The front of the brochure reads “Printed at FedEx Office.” I love FedEx, and have not been in an Office

Starbucks, so Raptors can write bad movies. 

store since they were Kinko’s, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t handle the industrial type of printing required for a massive theme park. I may be wrong though.
Note: There may be a brand partner in the form of a atv side by side, but I could not tell from the photos. I was not able to make out any logos, but it may be a Polaris. If so, it would be pretty fetch. The vehicle looks awesome.

I’m willing to bet this is just the surface of the Jurassic World brand partners. (Maybe I should say just the “Galaxy Tab” of brand partners as Microsoft makes the surface.) Anyway, expect at least a fast food chain, my guess is McDonalds, but Burger King did the Lost World after McDonalds was with the first. I’d also guess that someone like Under Armour or Nike would be in this film. It would work as a park uniform or something along those lines. After all, Chris Pratt did not lose all that weight for nothing.

Overall I am really excited for the film, and all of the official products I can buy in just under a year.