Product placement can often be distracting to the point of generating audible groans, with two notable examples being Will Smith gushing over his Converse sneakers in a bizarre lengthy scene from I, Robot, and pretty much the last fifteen years of Michael Bay’s career.
As an award-winning advertising executive that holds a stake in Aviation gin, Mint Mobile, the Maximum Effort agency, Match Group and soccer team Wrexham AFC, Ryan Reynolds knows a thing or two about shilling his own products. If you’ve seen Red Notice, then you definitely clocked the bottle of Aviation facing directly towards the camera during his early confrontation with Dwayne Johnson, who happens to be sipping on his own Teremana tequila in the same scene.
During a recent interview with The Times, Reynolds mimicked his co-star’s desire to become the new James Bond, but only for the opportunities it would provide him to continue shilling more of his own brand of booze.
“I hear they’re looking for a new Bond. Could you accept a Canadian sipping gin and tonic instead of a martini? If so, I’m interested.”
Not that the James Bond franchise is above product placement, with No Time to Die boasting one of the largest tie-in marketing campaigns in the history of cinema, but at least Reynolds is open in his intentions to throw on the tux and travel the world as 007 for the sole purpose of self-promotion.
