9. Product Placement
Love it or hate it, its here to stay. A Bond movie without product placement would be as incongruous as a Kanye West song without a sound bite from another generation. Using Aston Martins, Walther pistols and even a Sony Ericsson that doles out 20,000v shocks when prompted, Bond is an icon who makes icons and lavishes in their lustre. A slight departure from the herd was made by Casino Royales employment of a select few (
6 in fact) brands rather than a hoard of them as in earlier films. The effect of this was, whether intentional or not, to align the franchise closer to the character of Bond himself. Exclusivity and luxury are base components of the secret agent in book and film. The naysayers who quivered in anti-brand apoplexy at the mention of an Omega watch in Casino Royales script clearly dont understand that such brand recognition was present even in the books with Flemings mention of such brands as Cartier and Haig & Haig. Besides, bringing in an estimated $45million dollars to Skyfalls production budget is unlikely to subside anytime in the future and such naysayers need to consider the irony of despairing over the demise of the Bond franchise while demurring a narrative mainstay which brings in the cash.