I think a lot of product placement comes down to more extortion than permission. The production wants Apple to pony up some money or free stuff in exchange for having their product promoted -- "promotional consideration". In the case where you are shaking down Apple for money, they probably demand certain assurances in return.

You could just use Apple devices and pay for them, and then Apple would have no say.

My theory, too, is easily falsifiable -- check whether the movies you linked have "promotional consideration provided by" lists that include Apple.

When I worked in television, the news anchors had Dell laptops on the anchor desk because Dell gave them to the station for free for that purpose. It was a way for the station to save money, and Dell was happy for the exposure.

99% of the people in the station, including the talent, had no idea. They assumed it was an IT department decision. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but it was told to me by the #2 person in the station.

Why would you have to pay apple to use them in a movie?

You would pay to purchase the Apple products, and then you would be able to use them however you wanted in your movie.

The idea is that most producers want to get paid for using the products in the movie, or want to at least get free products.

In order to use them in a movie you have to pay for them. iPhones are not free. However you could buy them secondhand to avoid paying Apple directly.

Ok, we'll make the title trivially verifiable by doing the "says" trick above.

I'm sorry but this made me laugh.

See that you don't do it again.

Can products even be protected in this manner? This seems way outside the scope of copyright protections and seems entirely wrong, but IANAL. Can anyone add some background to this that is?

edit: barrkel posts a comment that links and explains the Trademark law around this. search for it and upvote!

I found this article on this topic from a lawfirm specializing in entertainment law interesting:

https://rodriqueslaw.com/blog/how-use-brands-and-products-fi...

It references some of the existing caselaw. My reading suggests Apple would be very unlikely to succeed in court if they legally challenged a filmmaker for simply giving an iPhone to a villainous character.

Maybe the real issue is studios don't want to loose out on any future product placement money with Apple?

If Apple acts overly douchey in this fashion, movies can institute anti-commercials in their scripts.

>Boss: It looks serious. Those guys are using Macs.

>Technerd: No worries. Macs are second rate systems. A bit slow. A bit inflexible. We'll not have any problems getting control of their systems and out maneuvering the kiddiez.

Honestly, I took up smoking Cigars because I saw all villains smoke Cigars. Call me stupid but then a lot of people do get influenced by the bad guys and buy the products for the reason it is being used by bad guys.

It's one of those things... if you follow Aston Martin at all (as a company) - they'd have died a long time ago if it weren't for James Bond propping them up.

I thought it was hilarious on Mad Men when a character tried to asphyxiate himself in a Jaguar and it wouldn’t start.

I never saw James Bond as the bad guy, but to each their own.

Well when you watch the movies through a modern lens, even the Brosnan era ones, he is "a bit rapey".

Goldfinger. Connery.

Bond rapes Pussy Galore and he's such a man that she falls for him and joins his side.

Actual rape.

He's probably licensed for that, too.

Oh I meant my comment more in the 'power of marketing' sense, rather than saying he's a bad guy

More exactly, I never saw Bond presented as the bad guy.

Logos and names are trademarked, not copyrighted. Theoretically, Apple could sue if they could argue that their trademark is being used in a way that could deceive consumers. That's the test for trademark infringement: would a reasonable person think that you are passing off a trademark as your own product?

But you don't need permission to say or use trademarks in a movie. Josie and the Pussycats is a famous example: they used a ton of trademarks to make it look like product placement, where in reality they weren't paid for all of the trademarks they used (nor did any of the named brands complain):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josie_and_the_Pussycats_(film)...

This did come out right around when Knives Out 2 was formally announced. Maybe Rian Johnson is playing a meta-long con.

There was a lot of attentiveness to phones as class signifiers throughout the movie though. The maid's phone has a broken screen, for instance, and she uses an Android. Meanwhile all the rich people have the newest model iPhones in immaculate condition without cases.

So Rian is saying Marta is the bad guy and everyone else are the good guys?

No they're class signifiers. In this context I think only Ransom counts as the "bad guy."

well of course they would break the rules and use iPhones, they're villains

I won't give away any spoilers, but The Morning Show is a proper Apple fest, and most of the characters are either borderline psychos or sociopaths.

I agree, but aside from a couple edge cases (again avoiding spoilers) I'm not sure I'd categorize any of them as particularly villainous. That show does a good job of showing broken humans as the complex messes they really are. And yes, Apple gear is everywhere in seemingly every frame of it.

Isn’t The Morning Show an Apple Original?

Yes, but the other Apple Originals I've watched don't have much if any product placement. Granted it would be anachronistic in something like "For All Mankind", but I don't recall seeing any in "See" or whatever other shows of theirs I've watched either.

The product placement is quite deliberate and to be expected, even though Apple probably thought it was clever and subliminal e.g. if you are an iPhone owner, and use the default note/tri-tone/chord ringtones, you will be reaching for your phone at least once during The Morning Show.

On a slight tangent, in my opinion, the best recent representation of phones and villians, was is in the now cancelled show: Ray Donovan; you can spot everything from old school fliphones, Blackberry's, Lumia, iPhones et al. in it's seven series trajectory. Furthermore, somebody on that show is also a watch-nut and likes cars!