Run Fatboy Run (brought to you by Nike)

Last night I saw the film Run Fatboy Run. Seeing this film came with much anticipation for me having absolutely loved Simon Pegg's previous 2 films, the brilliant Shaun Of The Dead and the even better Hot Fuzz. I was fully expecting this film to follow the trend and be even better than the last. This, sadly, was not the case and the film was nothing more than a bog-standard RomCom with a brilliant cast sadly wasted on tired jokes and a hackneyed plot. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it: it was entertaining, and reasonably funny in places, but I left the cinema feeling somewhat indifferent.

What made the film a lot less palatable was the product placement, or perhaps I should say brand placement, of Nike.

*A few spoilers may follow, though nothing that would really spoil the film, as the plot was horrendously predictable.*

Firstly, the whole premise of the film is based around the main character Dennis running a marathon. The marathon is sponsored by Nike, with Nike logos emblazoned across the start and finish line banners, and along the entire length of the course. The commentators and news reporters in the film, naturally, mention the sponsors of the marathon many, many times.

I can handle this just fine, in fact it does add a sense of realism to the film that would be taken away by having the supposed marathon not sponsored by any brand (which simply does not happen) or inventing a fictional brand to sponsor it. However the sheer volume of Nike swooshes (the tick logo) to be seen was somewhat over the top.

What made this product placement unbearable, however were the ways in which the shoes had been worked into the plot:

Dennis is presented with a pair of running shoes by his assistant coach prior to the marathon. Cue a close up of Nike running shoes followed by the comment "the man in the shop said they were the best!" Cue cringing from the entire audience.

One of the other marathon runners proposes to his girlfriend at her birthday party. He gives a speech about how he's running the marathon, and how marathon running is normally a solo pursuit, but he would like his girlfriend to become his partner. He hands her a birthday present the size of a shoebox. She opens it and, lo and behold, inside is a pair of Nike trainers! Out of the trainers he pulls a ring box and proposes to her. Cue puking from the entire audience at the most clumsy product placement they've ever seen.

As I said previously, I don't mind the sponsorship of the marathon by Nike. That is product placement that makes sense. I could almost handle the fact that he was given a pair of running shoes and told that they are the best if it wasn't for the close up shot of the clearly Nike shoes. But to have a character propose by giving someone a pair of Nike shoes and pulling the ring out of the shoe is just about the most desperately ridiculous way of working in a product to a film that I have ever seen.

And guess what everyone is wearing when they run the marathon. You guessed it: not only do they wear Nike numbered bibs (which makes sense, and I don't mind) but they were all kitted out from head to toe in Nike gear. This is ludicrous: even if a marathon was sponsored by Nike, people would turn up wearing a whole host of other brands, even a mix of brands (Adidas shorts, Puma shoes, Nike t-shirt, maybe) but in this film EVERY SINGLE RUNNER was kitted out from head to toe in Nike gear, and this was made oh so apparent by the constant close ups of shoes, shorts and anything else with the Nike logo on it.

I'm all for product placement. I think it plays an important role in building up brand retention amongst consumers, and placed subtly it can work wonders. This Nike placement, however, was so constantly and obviously rammed down the audience's throats that it actually made for uncomfortable viewing at times and several audible groans could be heard towards the end of the film. If anything, I think that it will damage Nike's image amongst film goers. If they had stopped with the sponsorship of the marathon I think people could abide it, and would've gone away with Nike in their head without necessarily noticing. Unfortunately the sheer volume and lack of subtlety in this film meant that people went away feeling angry and annoyed with Nike. I heard a few people grumbling about the product placement, and one person angrily (and sarcastically) exclaiming "Yeah! Of course EVERYONE wears NIKE don't they?!" as we exited.

I hope this isn't the beginning of a trend towards more brand placement of this ilk. If it is I certainly will find myself going to the cinema a lot less. In the future I hope that companies just DON'T do it like Nike did.