Shave gel (and other sprays) go to the movies…

Written on: May 1, 2015 by Ava Caridad

On page 54, we announce that Skintimate shaving products will have their screen debuts in the upcoming teen film “Pitch Perfect 2.” This will not be the first time an aerosol shaving product starred in a movie. Who can forget 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” when the computer programmer character of Dennis Nedry (played by “Newman” from Seinfeld) smuggles dinosaur embryos out of Jurassic Park in a modified can of Barbasol Shave Cream (it was a Gillette product in the novel written by Michael Crichton). The clandestine container became so iconic, one can now buy replicas of this altered Barbasol product to stash valuables in.

The fourth film in the franchise, “Jurassic World,” is due out in June. Will this important prop be revamped and revised for this installment? So far, we haven’t seen any relevant press materials cross our desks, but we’ll certainly keep investigating.

Then there was also the 1988 hit “Big,” where Tom Hank’s character pretends to shoot Silly String out of his nose. Wella supplied the hairspray in the 2007 remake of “Hairspray” (we’re not sure about the 1988 original). And my personal favorite, the father from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (played by Michael Constantine, everyone’s favorite high school principal from “Room 222”), who never lets his spray bottle of Windex out of his sight. Whatever the problem—“from psoriasis to poison ivy”—he encourages loved ones to “put some Windex on it!”

Product placement—otherwise known as embedded marketing—isn’t a new phenomenon. The first recorded incidence is in 1873, when author Jules Verne mentioned transport and shipping companies by name in his adventure novel “Around the World in 80 Days,” although it’s unclear if he was compensated for this.

Product placement in films and movies has been around since the inception of these mediums, and we have named but a few well-placed sprays here. If you can think of any more, please let us know; there may be an article in it somewhere.
Sprays are ready for their close-up, Mr. DeMille.