10 Most Embarrassing Product Placements In Video Games
8. James Pond 2’s Favourite Chocolate
A quaint and often forgotten platforming mascot for the early 90s, James Pond excelled in UK markets. For one thing it's developers, Millennium Interactive, were British but it also had a bit of a silly British sense of humour to boot.
To that point, James Pond 2: RoboCod actually has some screens in it that are unique to the UK release. Specifically because they are product placements for a chocolate bar that is not necessarily sold all around the world.
In the UK version of the game, players are treated to an endearing opening cutscene that reintroduces Pond himself as well as a panicky group of Penguins who are under threat from the returning villain Dr Maybe. Suddenly - for absolutely no reason at all - they all suddenly strike a pose in front of candy wrappers and the logo for the chocolate bar Penguin appears above them along with the guarantee that it’s “one of the chocolatiest biscuits in the world”.
Pond goes through a variety of zany locations in the game, with the first hour being dedicated to a lot of confectionery. Ignoring the enemy that looks like a legally distinct version of the Bertie Bassetts logo, there’s an entire stage where the player navigates a world made of unwrapped Penguin bars - quite literally floor-to-wall advertising for the chocolate.