COMPUTERS in movies have come a long way since the nerdy Matthew Broderick in War Games. In the current hit Independence Day, Jeff Goldblum saves the world by dialling up the alien invaders from his laptop, and in Mission: Impossible Tom Cruise uses his computer to defeat the nasty double crossing spies.
With hi tech movies all the rage, the opportunity for product placement has not gone unnoticed by the computer industry. While Microsoft might look to have the real world sewn up, in the neverland of TV and cinema Apple reigns supreme - and it doesn't cost them a penny.
On TV, Chandler in Friends, Scully in The X Files, and the casts of Melrose Place and Beverley Hills 90210 all use Macs, but it's in the movies that computer product placement really bears fruit for Apple.
Steven Spielberg is credited with starting the trend for product placement with the film ET in 1982. The lovable alien was seen gobbling Reese's Pieces sweets, and sales increased by 66 per cent. Apple was involved in another Spielberg hit, Jurassic Park, as well as in films such as Forest Gump and The Firm.
In those films, you might have had to look hard to find the computers, so with Mission: Impossible and In dependence Day the company has emphasised their involvement by running a series of TV commercials based on clips from the movies. "The Power to Save the World," runs the copy line from the Independence Day ad.
"Apple gains the benefit of being seen by millions of people in the hands of celebrities that those consumers seek to emulate," says Suzanne Forlenza, manager of Film/TV Placement and Marketing at Apple. "We pay for the production of the TV commercial (as we would any TV commercial we do). In exchange, we get images, special effects, celebrity endorsement and more for free. The quality and level of content we are able to use is incredibly high," she says.
So how much does it cost to have Jeff Goldblum save the world with a PowerBook? Nothing, according to Apple: "No money exchanges hands at all," Forlenza says. "We provide the computers requested for on camera usage on loan, all being due back to us at the end of the filming." Apple might have been criticised for not having the business acumen to match their technological innovation, but in this area they seem to be on a winner.
While they will approach production companies, they are just as likely to have people approach them. "Frankly, we are absolutely overwhelmed with requests, so we are reacting to satisfying the requests. The good news is we have established excellent relationships throughout Hollywood, so we have first crack, typically, at all the big films," Forlenza says.
On Mission: Impossible, for example, part of the deal was that Tom Cruise and the rest of the goodies would use Macs. The baddies were kitted out with IBMs. "We have a standing insistence that we will only be in the hands of the good guys," said Forlenza.
What the good guys do with the computers is often completely fantastical. In Independence Day, for example, Jeff Goldblum transfers a virus to the aliens' computers with his trusty PowerBook and a GSM phone. So either the aliens had a telephone number, or he rang his own service provider and connected to them via the Internet (presumably at mothership.alien.invasion.mil).
However, Apple are unconcerned that the product placement seems to make exaggerated claims for their computers. "A movie is by its nature a suspension of disbelief," says Forlenza. "We like to see computers used correctly but understand that sometimes a script calls for them to move a possibly unbelievable plot along."
What makes Apple's extensive coverage so impressive is the amount of money other corporations will pay to get their products in the shot. Laurie Ann Mazur is a writer and social commentator based in New York and co author of the book Marketing Madness (A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society).
"Huggies paid $100,000 to outfit the infant in Baby Boom," she says. "And Philip Morris reportedly paid $350,000 to make sure James Bond smoked Lark cigarettes in Licence to Kill." Apple argues that they save the film money: "A computer company is able to offer a great ideal of value in the computers they provide," said Suzanne Forlenza. "It helps the production save money and offset costs. The less value a product offers, the more dollars they would be charged [for placement]."
So both computer company and movie production company are happy. But what about the audience? While it might be argued that using real products in movies enhances the film's realism, Laurie Ann Mazur is unconvinced: "This practice is inherently deceptive - another kind of stealth advertising. When a celebrity endorses a product in a television commercial, viewers correctly assume that he or she has been bought. But when the same celebrity uses a product in a movie, viewers are more likely to accept the endorsement, at least at an unconscious level."
Tom Muth, a multimedia consultant based in Kansas City, agrees: "Most people don't understand that product placement occurs in almost every film, particularly the big blockbusters."
It's no surprise, therefore, that it's becoming an increasingly important area of marketing for Apple. "It's growing in that computers are becoming standard gear for all types of people in the movies (the doctor, the lawyer, and others) and also in the number of films that have ii technology sub plot."
So expect to see more Macs appearing at your local cinema. But only in the hands of the good guys, of course.