13 Most Controversial Movie Moments Of 2017
5. All The Product Placement - The Emoji Movie
The Moment: Not so much a single moment as the film's relentless shilling for mobile phone apps such as Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Candy Crush and Just Dance.
Why It's Controversial: Because this is a film marketed almost entirely at young children with its bright, colourful characters, which are ultimately just a delivery system for the movie to promote popular apps and games to the kids, in the hope of getting them hooked before they're old enough to think for themselves.
Compare it to movies like Toy Story and The Lego Movie, which managed to be both toy-selling exercises and clever, emotionally resonant entertainments. The Emoji Movie meanwhile feels like nothing more than a cynical feature-length commercial.
You can argue that many of the apps featured in the movie are in fact free, but the film is still promoting commodities and brands to kids, and more to the point, seeks to get them into the habit of mindlessly hoovering up apps into their phone, many of which feature in-app purchases.