Product placement has been a staple (if not scourge) of cinema since the dawn of the medium. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s done as a satirical joke (while also serving as product placement). But no example is as out-there as what a Chilean advertising agency did when they hawked Cerveza beer back in the early aughts.
Over the weekend someone on Twitter/X dropped an example of what Chilean TV viewers saw when they watched the original Star Wars trilogy. Among the advertisers was Cristal Beer, but instead of stopping the movie for traditional commercial breaks, they had their product edited right into the film itself. For example, this is what happens early on in the first Star Wars, when Luke Skywalker first meets Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Around 2003 in Chile, when the original trilogy of Star Wars began airing on television there, they did this funny thing to avoid cutting to commercial breaks. They stitched the commercials into the films themselves. Here is one of them, with the English dub added in. pic.twitter.com/wC7N2vPNvv
— Windy 🛸 (@heyitswindy) March 2, 2024
That’s right: Obi-Wan grabs a Cristal Cerveza, complete with a little jingle. Can they get Cristal at the Mos Eisley cantina? Probably not!
That wasn’t the only example. There’s the part where Obi-Wan is infiltrating the Death Star.
this is the funniest fucking thing ever oh my god https://t.co/XXDzkmxuON pic.twitter.com/spMRtArFvb
— Ren (@StanNajimi) March 3, 2024
And the climax from Return of the Jedi, with Emperor Palpatine chilling on his throne with a cool one before he eats it (before coming back, of course).
I'd never heard of it, and it's fantastic.
Above all, it explains how Palpatine somehow survived: with Cerveza Cristal. https://t.co/JtNd4jOE3e pic.twitter.com/kuX3Cn0Ls8
— The Spaceshipper 🚀 (@TheSpaceshipper) March 3, 2024
Not only are these real, but the ads won awards. A 2004 piece by The Guardian reveals that OMD Santiago, the agency that came up with this idea, scooped up the top award at that year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival. Cristal wound up edited into a number of major films as they aired on TV, a move the judges deemed “genius.”
The posts blew up, and soon a new meme was born, with people splicing Cristal into all manner of movies and shows and whatnot. There were more Star Wars ones.
🎶 CERVEZA CRISTAL 🎶 pic.twitter.com/238SibRMCw
— Braddington (@bradwhipple) March 4, 2024
New Star Wars piece just dropped#cervezacristal pic.twitter.com/wTSB7TeGeN
— Readful Things (@Readful_Things) March 6, 2024
https://twitter.com/kristenkbates/status/1764758516235931859
🎶 CERVEZA CRISTAL🎶 pic.twitter.com/4AufswYKuw
— Punch It Chewie Press 🔜 C2E2 (@PunchitChewie77) March 5, 2024
Okay, last one. pic.twitter.com/i95s6lOjRx
— Tim Owens (Ratts Tyerell Remix) (@AtTimOwens) March 5, 2024
such an iconic moment pic.twitter.com/x3U90j1890
— Veers Watch (@VeersWatch) March 5, 2024
— the thicc husband & father (@lukeisamazing) March 4, 2024
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Cerveza Cristal is my new favorite thing. pic.twitter.com/ZzLFdUl2SR
— matt green (@thatmattgreen) March 5, 2024
Lord of the Rings.
— Jordan Mychal Lemos (@jordanarywriter) March 4, 2024
— JRR Jokien (@joshcarlosjosh) March 5, 2024
🎵 CERVEZA CRISTAL 🎵 pic.twitter.com/yejA2tapPK
— Matt Pashby (@Pashbrown) March 5, 2024
Dune.
— BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) March 4, 2024
cerveza cristal pic.twitter.com/k90TsBmoWu
— cartier (@kennetzio) March 5, 2024
It's the official drink of the south, Paul. pic.twitter.com/C9YnecreM6
— james w (@OmgMoreJames) March 5, 2024
Spider-Man 2.
🎶CERVEZA CRISTAL 🎶 pic.twitter.com/nonsuOdUfT
— Ignacio Bahamondes (@igbahamondes) March 5, 2024
Alien.
— Tim Owens (Ratts Tyerell Remix) (@AtTimOwens) March 4, 2024
Everything Everywhere All at Once.
"In another life, I would have really liked just drinking Cerveza Cristal con mis amigos.” pic.twitter.com/VrWfh8dhhN
— Carl Kinsella (@TVsCarlKinsella) March 5, 2024
Se7en.
These Cerveza Cristal ads are getting wild#cervezacristal pic.twitter.com/LeJwdaUVGN
— Jason Aul (@JasonAul) March 6, 2024
Surely Cristal is enjoying all this free advertising.
Cerveza Cristal seeing their sales go up 7000% due to memes pic.twitter.com/riuOYRTTBA
— John NewBlood (@DaveOshry) March 5, 2024
(Via Business Insider)