Oh E.T. … how did you end up in the Scifi Product Integration Hall of Fame for Sci-Friday #179? The 80s were a weird time, man. Regan was in the White House, Anthony Michael Hall was the youngest cast member in the show’s history, and a poop-colored alien came on TV to sell us vitamins. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this obscure corner of scifi product integration:
Don’t worry, I don’t get it either. I mean, yes – E.T. was a wildly-successful scifi movie and there’s a lot to love about it. But who was crazy enough to say “Yeah, and he’ll make you eat vitamins, too!” And then, you had Universal Studios’ ridiculous E.T. bike ride which – let’s be honest – was about as relevant as your vice principal doing the Macarena to ‘relate to the kids’ during homecoming week. Yeah, I’m talking to you, Mr. Ellis!
I digress – Xennial kid – I’m working through a lot of rage.
The main thing I want to share about scifi movies is that they sometimes get sucked into really weird product tie-ins. From E.T. vitamins to Episode III air sickness backs on airplanes. I’m totally serious: officially-licensed barf bags. Something to keep in mind the next time you contemplate a bloated movie franchise and whether it’s ‘sold out.’
So our hats off to E.T. and it’s Scifi Product Integration Hall of Fame award. If you’re still curious, stroll over to DenofGeek and enjoy 50 bizarre examples of movie tie-ins and merchandise. When they say ‘some people will try and slap the name of The Avengers or Batman on anything…’ they aren’t kidding.
I hope you enjoyed this moment of scifi nerdery! Please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 🙂
