Monkey See, Mountain Dew

I watched Back To The Future the other night as I like to do from time to time. Watching movies I saw as a young pup is a nice, inexpensive form of time traveling in itself - I always remember who I was with, what theater we saw it in, and even what I did after the movie. Case and point: My Aunt Cookie took me to see Future at the Signal Hills theatre in West St. Paul. It was in August, methinks, and afterwards we went to Kay Bee Toys and Musicland in the mall. I went into Musicland with the intent of buying Bon Jovi's new LP "Slippery When Wet", but when I reached into my pocket realized I had lost my $20 bill. That was a true blessing in disguise now that I look back. We then ate at Taco Bell and Cookie took me home.

Holy digression, Bat Man. Anywho...

While watching BTF for the thousandth time (mainly for Christopher Lloyd and Crispen Glover's performances), I took note of the blatant product placement in the film. Within 30 seconds, Marty skateboarded past a nice, clean looking Burger King restaurant and then latched onto the vehicle of a driver who turned around and was wearing a nice shiny new Mountain Dew hat. Coincidence? Nope!

And even 20 years later, the product placement worked its magic on me. I suddenly craved a Whopper and a nice cold Mountain Dew. And I hate Mountain Dew.

Product placement is so silly. I mean, it's just a bunch of shameless promotion that worms its way into your brain and stays there until you satisfy your consumer cravings. It's really cruel, if you think about it. Your money is pretty much spent on the product before you even leave the theater.

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