6. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - Reese's Pieces
While the affinity of lovable leathery xenomorph E.T. for peanutty snack product Reese's Pieces may seem like an obvious and unsubtle slice of corporate product placement and therefore run counter to the theme of this list, it was actually an association that big brands weren't especially keen on and Reese's parent company Hershey's would not pay anything to be appear in the film. Despite Steven Spielberg's success on previous film Raiders Of The Lost Ark, E.T. was in no sense a guaranteed success. Few people foresaw it becoming the highest earning film of all time. Indeed, many found the concept of the ugly alien in a suburban household a little off-putting. One set of people who weren't convinced were confectionery giant Mars, Inc. whose own space themed name didn't carry over into support for Spielberg's alien feature. The director was keen to include Mars' rainbow-coloured, sugar-coated, chocolate favourite M&Ms as the candy enticing enough to lure the extraterrestrial from a hiding place. Mars' rejection of any involvement in the film would result in Spielberg and company turning to the far less well known Reese's Pieces. Having only been introduced a few years earlier, the candy shelled peanut sweets were not widely popular at this point, but within a couple of weeks of the film's enormously successful release sales had gone through the roof.
Estimates on the amount that sales increased include anything up to three times what they were before. In a broader sense, the movie not only made Reese's Pieces a household name, but helped establish the whole nature of modern movie-marketing tie-ins.