10 Most Ridiculous Pieces Of Product Placement In 2014 Films

5. Wild's REI Shoes Are A Sub-Plot By Themselves

At least the product placement kinda fits into Nightcrawler, which is supposed to be set in a status-obsessed world not so far removed from the audience's. Wild, the hiking film starring Reese Witherspoon in what's mostly a one-woman show, is similarly connected to reality, what with it being based off of Cheryl Strayed's best-selling memoir of the same name. The whole point of the book -and the film adaptation too - is for Strayed to go on the cross-country hike to get over a series of traumatic incidents in her life: a divorce, a lifetime of destructive behaviour including spates of substance dependency, and the death of her mother, with whom she was extremely close (played by no less a star than Laura Dern in the film). It's a spiritual journey more than anything, the film being a fairly transparent but satisfying character arc as Strayed sorts her crap out. What it isn't is a glorious celebration of capitalism... except for one scene that sticks out like a sore thumb, where she goes to a shoe store and fawns over her REI hiking boots. Smooth.