For one reason or another, be it a creative led decision or simply not being able to gain the rights to using certain real products, film and TV is almost as stocked with as many fictional consumer products as we have here on the bulging shelves of the real world. We've all walked past a shop window and thought "I need one of those" or "i need to eat that immediately" but what if those products that tantalise us are something that we can never tinker with, or wear or taste? Nothing can be as alluring as something desirable that you cannot have. Ironically this fact isn't lost upon those people in the real world who want to market desirable products to us, as in this day and age even fictional products that don't adhere to the laws of physics in our world can cross over into reality as a non-functioning replica. What follows are 25 of the funniest, most inventive, most innovative, most unusual and most desirable goods that can be found in the supermarkets, corner shops and retail websites of the fictional realm. And in a clear demonstration of the power of product placement you will see that placing even fictional products in films is a marketers dream as it means that they have to replicate the product and bring it to life to satisfy customer demand rather than try to drum up consumer interest.
25. The Cornballer (Arrested Development)
Just thinking of George Bluth's Snr's lethal cornball fryer can make you come out in oil burn inspired goosebumps. This is one product that is difficult to buy even in the fictional world after it was banned in the US in the 1970s. However you can still get yourself a Cornballer as long as you're prepared to take a a trip to fictional Mexico, where it retails for 1375.99 pesos.
24. Flubber (The Absent Minded Professor, Flubber)
Flubber, a portmanteau of the words "Flying Rubber" is a jello/silly putty style substance which gains speed whenever it bounces, invaluable if you have a big basketball game coming up or even better want to make your car "fly". Flubber first appeared in Disney's The Absent Minded Professor starring Fred MacMurray in 1961. It returned in the 1963 sequel Son Of Flubber and later the Robin Williams starring remake Flubber in 1997. Bizarrely Flubber kind of exists after being used as for the name of a rubbery polymer compound in homage to The Absent Minded Professor.
23. Finder Spyder (Breaking Bad, CSI, Dexter)
The Fynder Spyder Search engine has almost become the TV equivalent of the 555 telephone number or the "Alan Smithee" directorial pseudonym as the go-to fictional search engine when not wanting to pay Google. Finder Spyder has found its way into many unconnected shows, and found itself go through design changes in its different guises. Not necessarily a consumer product but makes this list by having a range of products and services to rival Google and a few that surpass it like its phone tracing tool.
As well as the odd article, I apply my "special mind" to scriptwriting for Comics, Films and Games... Oh and I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flow'rs, I put on women's clothing, and hang around in bars.
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