Intermissions Possible

Apple is not the only company to star in Mission: Impossible. In terms of the extensive technology used in the film, Apple dominates, with Netscape following in the distance. Then there are various products which may at first seem co-incidental: like BT telephones in Liverpool Street station: but are in fact product placement. Netscape lets us know that it has not just cornered today's market for browsers but tomorrow's too. According to Andrew Eio, computer/ video effects supervisor on the film, Paramount applied for a licence to use the Netscape interface, which was modified for the film's purposes.

Yes, okay, so I've used this pic before, but what's this? Oh look, another product right in the middle of the shot!

There are few sequences in the film where products are not featured. Companies arrange for product placement in one of two ways. The process begins with the producers selecting the kind of product they are looking for, they then approach the company and arrange a deal. Either the company pays a flat fee to appear in the film, which is the case with Nokia, or a marketing campaign is arranged, in which both products promote each other: note the number of films advertised on soft drink cans.

As witnessed in James Bond films, spy movies seem to attract extensive amounts of product placement. To fan of 007, Bond driving a BMW in Goldeneye, and wearing an Omega watch instead of a Rolex is as significant as Timothy Dalton changing into Pierce Brosnan. The brand makes an editorial contribution, a statement about the character. If you like the character you'll like the car. BMW knew this when they launched the Z3 through the film.

Only the goodies in Mission: Impossible use PowerBooks which makes them intelligent, patriotic, creative, technologically aware, etc. etc. etc. What the badies use, we are not told. Perhaps if they used PowerBooks they would never have turned to crime.

It is feasible the CIA would use Apple computers, but would they really fly British Airways? About as likely as an MI6 agent driving a German car. Even harder to understand is a French TGV train going through the Channel Tunnel, when there is only one product that can really do the job: Eurostar. Eurostar says it was never consulted at any stage about involvement in the film, Paramount must have assumed they couldn't pay the placement price tag.