The Avengers and the Cars They Drive

We all know product placement in movies is nothing new. Product placement can be seen basically anywhere, from independent films to Hollywood blockbusters. With respect to the latter, this year’s big-ticket release achievement can be given to film that reached the billion-dollar mark in only a little over two weeks of global release. That movie is none other than the vector-filled, Disney-Marvel release of The Avengers. In studying The Avengers alone, it is interesting to see how other products were place into and/or tied to the brand itself. As I went through the list of corporate partners for the movie, I surely recalled some of them from my trip to the theatre, while others were more of a blur in my mind.

http://www.multivu.com/mnr/54314-acura-is-marvel-the-avengers-official-sponsor-of-red-carpet-world-premiere

According to Brandchannel.com’s Brandcameo Film List of 2012, The Avengers is listed towards the bottom of the page as having had 19-featured brands within the film. Of the those 19 brands, by far the most notable, as well as most publicized, is none other than the Acura brand. Acura crept into The Avengers, via a multi-film deal they set up with Marvel, beginning with 2011’s release of Thor. Becoming the official car of fictitious Marvel-created secret agency S.H.I.E.L.D., they solidified their appearance in The Avengers with previous exposure in both Thor and Captain America.

Not everyone was excited about this “coup” Acura had over recent Marvel films. Especially, as Abe Sauer points out in his Brandchannel article, where he calls Acura, “The least inspiring Avenger.” He begins with reminding everyone that in the Iron Man movies, Tony Stark is seen driving, when he’s not flying around, different types of Audi R8’s. Since Acura had a deal with Marvel, there was no way Stark’s R8 would make it to The Avengers’ set. No problem, most would say they would just replace the R8 with an Acura equivalent. Except, there was a problem, Acura does not have an R8 equivalent or anything close to it in its current offering lineup. The solution was that instead of placing any other product they had within the movie, they decided to showcase a concept car. Sauer states that this is a disadvantage for Acura, for the simple fact that they are promoting a car that people cannot go out there and buy. He recalls another writer stating that what they did for the movie was basically get a 1991 Acura NSX and just gave it a new more modern-looking body. And let’s thank God that Acura doesn’t have a motorcycle line to offer. Otherwise, I don’t even want to imagine what they would’ve have done with Captain America’s Harley Davidson creation.