mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Technically, it’s more like, “10 Fake Brands and Numbers and License Plates Used by the Entertainment Industry” but that’s pretty wordy for a title. Basically, it’s brands that you’ve seen pop up in show after show, movie after movie. Maybe you haven’t even noticed that they’re used across the board – they can be pretty sneaky about placement. Sometimes it’s because they truly need a generic brand, and in some cases it’s just because it’s become an inside joke to work in to movies, much like the Wilhelm Scream. Either way, I think it’s fun.
1. Red Apple Cigarettes from Quentin Tarantino. There are plenty of directors and writers who create brands and use them across all of their movies and shows, but this one and Big Kahuna Burger, another Tarantino, are some of the most famous (read on for another one that I think ranks up there). Some people mistakenly think “Fruit Brute” and “Kaboom!” cereal are from the depths of Tarantino’s imagination, but those were actual cereals. Once upon a time, “Fruit Brute” was part of the Frankberry-Count Chocula-Booberry family.
• First seen in Pulp Fiction, Red Apple can also be spotted in the Tokyo airport when Uma Thurman walks by an giant advertisement for the brand.
• A pack is tossed in the Gecko Brothers’ car in From Dusk Til Dawn.
• Ted the Bellhop from Four Rooms smokes them.
• In the Planet Terror part of Grindhouse, the BBQ owner tosses a pack to Wray.
2. Morley Cigarettes. Unlike Tarantino’s Red Apple cigs which appear exclusively in his own movies, Morley Cigarettes are prop smokes used across the board. Here are a few places you’ll find them:
• Beverly Hills, 90210 (the original). Remember when Brenda comes home from Paris with a newfound smoking habit? The cigarettes her parents catch her with are Morleys.
• Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was loyal to the Morley brand.
• On Heroes, Claire Bennet’s real mom tries to light a Morley in Sandra Bennet’s house, ‘til Sandra puts the kibosh on it.
• The American soldiers in Platoon smoke Morleys.
• Christina Ricci’s character in Prozac Nation is a Morley smoker.
• The infamous Smoking Man from The X-Files smokes -you guessed it – Morleys.
3. Heisler Beer is the barley-and-hops version of Morleys. Some notable appearances:
• In lots of My Name is Earl episodes.
• When Silas from Weeds celebrates his 18th birthday, the beverage of choice is Heisler.
• Beerfest by the Broken Lizard guys features both cans and bottles of the fictitious beer.
• One of my current favorites, United States of Tara, features Heisler in an episode where Marshall and Kate throw a party while their parents are out of town.
4. Oceanic Airlines. I’m a big Lost fan and had never heard of this made-up brand until then, but it’s been around since long before Jack and co. crashed on the Island. It’s usually specifically used to depict ill-fated airlines, so the next time you spot the name at the beginning of a movie, you’ll know something that the person sitting next to you doesn’t. Use it to make yourself sound like a film genius: “It’s so obvious that the plane is going to be hijacked. Could they make their foreshadowing any more obvious?”
• Part of the 1996 movie Executive Decision takes place on Oceanic Airlines Flight 343.
• In “The Bridget at Kang So Ri,” an episode of JAG that aired in 2000, Korean terrorists hijack an Oceanic Air flight.
• Oceanic is referenced in other ABC and/or J.J. Abrams projects – the name has made appearances in Chuck, Fringe and Pushing Daisies.
• Supposedly the Oceanic name goes all the way back to the ‘60s with a mention in an episode of Flipper called “The Ditching,” but I can’t seem to verify this one.
5. Gannon Car Rentals. Speaking of Lost, Gannon Car ads were featured in back-to-back episodes of Heroes and Lost, which led to a lot of speculation among fans that the two shows were somehow connected. This would be pretty much unprecedented, since the shows are on two different networks. Reps for both shows have denied that they the shows tie together but did say that they often chat with one another and are inspired by one another.
• Gannon pamphlets can be found in at least four episodes of Heroes.
• Lost fans will spot Gannon advertisements on the back of the Oceanic Airlines boarding pass folders – there are also pamphlets, too, and a Gannon advertisement at a soccer game in an episode with Desmond.
6. Finder-Spyder is the official choice when writers need a generic search engine. Sometimes the logo looks suspiciously like Google’s, and sometimes it looks nothing like it. Here’s where you’ll spot it:
• In at least six episodes of Prison Break, including the pilot.
• On Dexter.
• Two Without a Trace episodes – “Baggage,” where they look up a website that was left in a journal, and “Cloudy with a Chance of Gettysburg,” where they look up info about Civil War re-enactments.
• On Criminal Minds, when Megan Kane Finder-Spyders (doesn’t have the same ring as “Googles,” does it?) Special Agent Aaron Hotchner in the episode “Pleasure is my Business.”
7. Mooby’s, a franchise that features a tongue-in-cheek golden cow mascot, is all over Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse. Fans already know this, no doubt, but for the casual viewer, here’s a reference guide:
• In Dogma, you’ll see the chain all over the place: Bartleby and Loki visit the Mooby headquarters, they eat at Mooby restaurant, Silent Bob wears a Mooby hat throughout the movie, and Rufus can be seen wearing Mooby pajamas.
• In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, SB is still wearing his Mooby hat. A Mooby character gets shot during the backlot chase scene.
• Clerks II features the clerks relocating to a Mooby location after their Quick Stop burns down.
8. 555-2368. Phone companies have reserved the “555” prefix from 0100-0199 for fictional purposes such as movies and T.V. shows. This happened because it started to become problematic when writers would make up “fake” numbers for their fictional purposes, only to have fans dial the number and disrupt a real person who hadn’t intended for their number to be put out there for national use. This still presents a bit of a problem… one of the most widely-used fake 555 numbers is 555-2368, which clearly falls out of the 0100-0199 territory. Here are a few references to the 555-2368 number:
• The Ghostbusters number in the “Who You Gonna Call” commercial.
• The number of the Guiler residence in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
• Jim Rockford’s number in The Rockford Files.
• The motel room phone in Momento.
• Baretta’s phone number in Baretta.
• Jaime Sommers’ phone number in The Bionic Woman.
9. Acme is obviously associated with Looney Toons, but other shows and movies have picked up on the gag as well. The name originated because when the Yellow Pages were first introduced, tons of businesses started naming themselves “Acme” or “Ace” to get at the top of the listings. The Looney Toons’ Acme and other Acme references poke fun at this (and some are referencing the Looney Toons Acme directly).
• Calvin and Hobbes often referenced Acme on the box when Calvin was making transmogrifiers and other imaginative machines.
• The Far Side used the company name in various comics, too.
• Bullwinkle once pretended to sell Acme vacuums on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
• The Simpsons makes reference on a somewhat regular basis, including during Itchy and Scratchy episodes.
• The candy factory Lucy and Ethel work at in that famous episode is the Acme Candy Factory.
• The detective agency in the Carmen Sandiego series is the ACME Detective Agency.
• The Last Action Hero references Acme products.
• Wally’s Filling Station in The Andy Griffith Show sells Acme fuel.
10. 2GAT123. Next time you’re watching something, keep a close eye on the license plates to see if you spot these numbers. It almost always appears on a California license plate and is used because California doesn’t actually use the letter combination “GAT” on real plates. Another one you might spot is “2FAN321.” 2GAT123 has been spotted in these movies and shows:
• Beverly Hills Cop II
• L.A. Story
• Go
• Pay It Forward
• Traffic
• Mulholland Drive
• Beverly Hills, 90210
• Charmed
• Chuck
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Lost
• Two and Half Men
• The X-Files
This all leads me to today’s questions. Where have you spotted these movie generics? And, if you were creating your own universe like the Tarantino-verse or the View Askewniverse, what would your brand be? Mine would definitely have to be Patton-brand something: my dog is named Patton and he’s a total psycho with one brown eye and one blue eye. Perhaps brown and blue would be the color scheme of my ads. Anyway, leave a comment and let us know what yours would be! Also, here is a gratuitous picture of Patton:
Comments (54)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
You missed my personal favorite, Jekyll Island beer. Featured in Dexter, Lost, and The Rules of Attraction.
posted by Pilot on 3-3-2009 at 3:56 pm
I didn’t know Oceanic was around before Lost, very cool. Thanks!
posted by Josh on 3-3-2009 at 4:19 pm
Don’t forget about Nails cigarettes from the Kevin Smith movies.
posted by David on 3-3-2009 at 4:25 pm
The Gage Whitney law firm was Sam Seaborn’s old employer before he joined up with the leader of the free world.
They also were referenced in another Aaron Sorkin project, Studio 60, as well as an ep. of 24 in January. These caused at least two excited phone calls to fellow West Wing aficionadas.
posted by Anna on 3-3-2009 at 4:30 pm
Didn’t the family fly to London from America on Oceanic in the Peter Pan re-imagining, Hook?
posted by Johnny Cat on 3-3-2009 at 4:40 pm
ACME was also used in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. It was the gag and prank company (everything from hand buzzers to spring-loaded boxing gloves to giant magnets) owned by “Marvin Acme” who is the victim of the murder (killed by a safe dropped on his head) that Roger Rabbit is framed for.
posted by nerak on 3-3-2009 at 4:43 pm
Since I write TV comedy, my brand would be Snorting Laugh, which would appear twice in every episode amongst the canned laughter.
posted by GoingLikeSixty on 3-3-2009 at 4:56 pm
Actually, in “Hook”, they flew Pan-Am, which, ironically, ceased operations on December 4, 1991, one week before the movie was released on December 11, 1991. So, at least, you were right in remembering it was an ill-fated airline.
posted by LeftyRodriguez on 3-3-2009 at 4:56 pm
Man, you beat me to it with the Nails cigarettes.
The ViewAskewniverse is full to the brim of these kinds of things.
posted by Troy H. on 3-3-2009 at 5:04 pm
How about Duff beer? Laramie cigarettes? Not to mention all the Krusty brands. :D
posted by mrs.djs on 3-3-2009 at 5:09 pm
Patton’s a cutie.
I always liked Letterman’s use of Big Ass fans so I thought I’d use Big Ass, but it turns out there’s a Big Ass Fans company. They make warehoue fans. So, I diverse to the Muttilda brand. By the way, she was a great dog and also had one blue eye and one brown.
posted by Lisa on 3-3-2009 at 5:14 pm
There are Big Ass Fans in the warehouse where I work. They are REALLY big. My dog has one brown eye and one eye that is half blue and half brown. Not too sure what my brand would be.
posted by Leslie on 3-3-2009 at 5:25 pm
Duff Beer for me Duff Beer for You. I’ll have a Duff you have one too.
Also Pawtucket Patriot, and Alamo Beer. Do you people even watch TV?
posted by SB on 3-3-2009 at 6:13 pm
Oh…puppy! Great Top 10, cute dog. Nice work.
posted by kate on 3-3-2009 at 6:57 pm
Was it Acme in the Roadrunner Cartoons? Willey used things from there …. Am I right?
posted by Jude on 3-3-2009 at 7:17 pm
Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals on Food Network has to ‘rebrand’ all of the products she uses.
posted by Aimee on 3-3-2009 at 8:26 pm
What about Slusho? Featured in JJ Abrams stuff like Alias and Cloverfield
posted by Jordan on 3-3-2009 at 8:44 pm
My last name is Patton, however my eyes are both the same color.
posted by Dep103 on 3-3-2009 at 9:08 pm
Patton is adorable!! Is he a long haired dachshund? Can you do more lists with gratuitious pics of Patton?
posted by kani on 3-3-2009 at 9:12 pm
On the Adventures of Pete and Pete, everything is “Kreb.” Like a radio model is “Krebstar” and such. It’s used for pretty much every product in that show.
posted by natalie on 3-3-2009 at 9:15 pm
Not a brand, per se, but a whole bunch of animated movies play on A113.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A113
posted by John R on 3-3-2009 at 9:25 pm
My friends never knew the 555= a fake number thing. I think the next “Quick 10″ should be about REAL numbers put into sons, TV shows, and movies! It’s becoming a fad now (you’ll here it if you can get through a Soulja Boi song)
posted by Rachel* on 3-3-2009 at 9:54 pm
@kani, yup, he’s a longhaired dachshund… I have three of them! And about the pictures… you really don’t want to encourage me. There are some on my blog (I linked to one) if you search for “dogs” (if I remembered to tag them)
posted by stacy on 3-3-2009 at 10:04 pm
Finder-Spyder was also featured on “Breaking Bad.” When Skyler got suspicious about Walt and Jesse, she Finder-Spydered Jesse’s phone number to find his “MyShout” page.
I also recall reading that, in the original “High School Musical,” the characters use a search engine called “Search the Internet.” And then there was the time in “Mary Worth” that a character bought a DVD from “enormoushop dot com.” It used to be registered by a comics reader, but now it seems to have gone away. Too bad.
posted by Sillstaw on 3-4-2009 at 12:14 am
Finder-Spyder was used in the show Journeyman that was canceled a year or so ago on NBC. The guy used it all the time, I hadn’t seen it elsewhere.
I never understood why movies use the 555 numbers. Wouldn’t it be better to use a real number and have a product tie in or interactive game? In my universe I will print real phone numbers, and anyone who calls them will be able to order merchandise or something.
posted by Dwayne on 3-4-2009 at 12:50 am
Patton’s an adorable puppy! Please give him (and any other pets you have) an extra hug from me.
See the “FiveFiveFive” entry on TVTropes for further discussion on the fake phone number thing.
posted by Seanette on 3-4-2009 at 3:13 am
Don’t forget Brawndo (Idiocracy) and Sex Panther (Anchorman). There is a big market, actually, for products that were in movies. That is why, anyone who listens to Kevin Smith’s podcast knows that their main sponsor is Omni Consumer Products. They make licensed products that appeared in movies (like Brawndo and Sex Panther). Check out http://www.brawndo.com for info on that product.
posted by Ian on 3-4-2009 at 8:09 am
Add Binford Tools, the brand of tools that were hawked by Tim (Allen) Taylor on the cable-show-within-a-show in Home Improvement.
The Binford label also appears on Sid’s toolbox in Toy Story.
No surprise, since both Home Improvement and Toy Story were Disney productions.
“Binford,” BTW, is named after Tom Binford, the longtime pit steward at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
posted by Mike D. on 3-4-2009 at 9:20 am
@Rachel – yeah, the real phone number trend’s been going on awhile; I remember in an episode of Gilmore Girls, Luke gave Lorelai his new cell number: it went to an outgoing voicemail of the actor asking fans to contribute to a certain charity.
posted by Chris on 3-4-2009 at 9:29 am
In every disney chanel shows I have come across, all laptops are a fruit, I think pear, playing off the “apple” logo.
posted by someone on 3-4-2009 at 9:50 am
The movie is MEmento NOT MOmento!!!
posted by Kelly on 3-4-2009 at 10:35 am
Yes, Jude, it was. Patton is so cute! I’m not sure what my brand would be, but my colors would be brown, black, and white, the same three colors as our first Rat Terrier, Scooter. And don’t forget George Lucas’ 10A31, or something like that. It was the title of his very first film. StarWars fans, it was the number of the cell Luke got Leia out of.
posted by Sara on 3-4-2009 at 10:37 am
The first thing that popped into my head was Pizza Planet, the pizza place featured in Pixar movies like Toy Story and Cars.
posted by Rioux on 3-4-2009 at 11:02 am
Dunder Mifflin. Plus re: Mooby: my family had a milk plan with a golden cow as its mascot. Even had a golden lifesize replica on front of the plant!
posted by PT on 3-4-2009 at 11:16 am
@Sara: The number that appears in George Lucas’ films is 1138 – as in THX 1138 – and it’s appeared in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies in some form or another.
Re: Oceanic Airlines – when I saw “Executive Decision” on TV a couple years back, I wondered if Cuse, Lindehof, and Abrams got the airline name from that film.
posted by Steve on 3-4-2009 at 1:09 pm
ACME is the name of a chain of grocery stores in the Philadelphia area. Not sure if they were the inspiration for Wiley or vice versa.
posted by BS on 3-4-2009 at 1:28 pm
Morley Cigarettes were also featured prominently in “200 cigarettes”! The first time they were featured was in the Twilight Zone, with Wm. Shatner.
posted by Kate on 3-4-2009 at 1:43 pm
What’s funny is Acme is an actual chain of grocery stores. I know they’re in Delaware, maybe a few in PA too. One of my good friends works at one…..
posted by Kate on 3-4-2009 at 2:09 pm
Whoops, left the window open during my lunch break and someone else beat me to mentioning ACME……
posted by Kate on 3-4-2009 at 2:11 pm
Red apples where introduced in Pulp Fiction, but when Butch (Bruce Willis)asks for them in the bar. The ad in the airport is from Kill Bill.
posted by William on 3-4-2009 at 2:38 pm
what about royal diner from bones? i have seen it in other movies and shows also.
posted by stephanie on 3-4-2009 at 2:38 pm
big kahuna burger exists…it’s on ingraham street in san diego (pacific beach more specifically)
posted by james on 3-4-2009 at 8:27 pm
There’s a reason behind these things, and it has a lot more legal ramification than just “in jokes”. Rights clearance for movies is a very, very picky thing, and a good way to get around it is to essentially “invent” a brand. In doing so, the copyright is usually held by either the production designer or the production company, and thus that particular entity has the right to use the brand in perpetuity, rather than re-license it every single time. If you want to use a real brand, you have to go through a complicated system of clearances, sometimes getting down to the nitty gritty of percentage of space on screen. Moreover, if the product is shown in an even REMOTELY negative light, the whole thing can get nixed (a famous example of this would be the initial attempt to use UPS in the film cast-away, but they did not want to be seen having a plane crash (and i *think* there was something to do with the opening of packages in there) – instead the production team went to FedEx, and the rest is history.
posted by Anaximander on 3-4-2009 at 10:22 pm
There’s a great little site that touches on the fictional Oceanic Airlines. Apparently, due to the Oceanic connection, the entirety of LOST and about 300 other shows, takes place in the dreams of an autistic child named Tommy Westphall of St. Elsewhere.
(originally saw this on kottke)
posted by grover on 3-4-2009 at 11:09 pm
There’s also the number on the top of the bus in “Speed”. I can’t remember what the number is (and can’t locate it online), but it is the same# as the bus in the climax of “Swordfish”.
posted by Aarona1c on 3-16-2009 at 1:15 pm
@Steve: Yup. THX-1138 is also the license plate number on the hot rod that Harrison Ford’s character (Bob Falfa) drives.
I know John Landis used to work the phrase “See You Next Wednesday” into all of his films. SYNW was the title of Landis’ student film. Off the top of my head, it’s on the marquee of the movie theater in “American Werewolf In London”, on a movie poster in Ophelia’s bedroom in “Trading Places”, behind Bill Murray’s head @ the Army Recruitment office in “Stripes”, and, in the video for MJ’s “Thriller”, a voice-over says the phrase when MJ and the girl are watchinhg the movie.
Dunno if that qualifies as a “brand”, per se, but, they’re fun to spot.
posted by !elbakrameR® on 3-16-2009 at 1:40 pm
What about “Viscount” with it’s own “V”-in-a-Circle logo? It’s on the back of every movie magazine I can remember seeing.
posted by Pete on 3-16-2009 at 4:04 pm
I probably shouldn’t reveal this, but I love the film “Falling Down” so much that I grabbed the domain for whammyburger.com — I haven’t developed it yet, but given permission from the film’s producers, I’d be tempted.
posted by Sandy Wood on 3-19-2009 at 2:20 am
“Acme” also means “the point at which something is best, perfect”. Methinks it’s a pun:P
I think Duff beer deserves a mention as well.
posted by wackyvorlon on 3-20-2009 at 11:24 am
Old(e) FrothingSlosh, the Pale Ale with the Head on the Bottom is a standard gag in the model railroaders’ universe, along with Miracle Chairs (If it’s a good chair, it’s a Miracle), Getz Gas, Land Sakes Fertilizer (Stand Downwind, You’ll Say Our Name!) and Phallphlat Whisky…
posted by Bill McKean on 3-21-2009 at 1:32 pm
Acme is the name of a small town in Alberta Canada
posted by Miko on 3-22-2009 at 6:40 pm
This is going to date me, but I think “555″ for phone exchange even dates back to the age of radio. When phones were rotary phones they had to have an exchange, in this case KLondike 5 that had numbers midway along the dial. Otherwise it would take forever for someone to call a number if it was a higher digit. But, you couldn’t have the number too low, or else it wouldn’t “sound right”
posted by ChinaFubar on 3-22-2009 at 8:14 pm
Great list here – i can’t believe you didn’t include Duff beer! My fave is the Cornballer from Arrested Development!
posted by K on 5-15-2009 at 9:56 am
Nickelodeon shows use Pear computers (that look like Apple laptops).
posted by Alexis Rae on 7-2-2009 at 2:03 am