I happened to catch Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest movie, Bruno, this past weekend and have to say that it was absolutely hilarious. Never before have I seen a crowd get so amped up and into a movie, and in the end, it was vastly superior to Borat.
But through watching both Borat and Bruno, one common theme I sadly noticed was that in each movie Baron Cohen’s character makes a point to reference an Apple product. Seeing as this is an Apple blog, we figure it’s an appropriate time to throw out the possibility that the man behind Borat and Bruno is, gasp!, an Apple fan!
First, in Cohen’s first movie, Borat makes a quip about his next door neighbor and his choice in iPods
“And my neighbor is still (a jerk), I get Pod, he only get iPod Mini. Everybody know it’s for girls!”
And that then brings us to Bruno. During the course of the movie, Bruno adopts a baby from Africa who he proceeds to name O.J. While appearing on a talk show with his kid, Bruno notes that he got the baby in exchange for an iPod. When the crowd gasps in disbelief, or horror, Bruno further tries to explain that said iPod was a special edition U2 iPod with the red clickwheel.
Bruno sure seems to know a lot about iPods!
Then later on in the movie, and in perhaps the nerdiest noticed goof in the history of mankind, Bruno says that he can’t give up his baby because he traded a MacBook Pro for it. Hmmm, maybe Baron Cohen is as much of an Apple nut as we are and didn’t even notice his inconsistent reference from earlier in the movie.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Are you kidding? Don’t you realize that this is paid placement? No product names make it into movies by chance or as a demonstration of secret gadget crushes by writers. It’s all business.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Social Commentary… You know how the simpsons will reference the latest pop culture trend, and make jokes out of them? I believe this was done in Bruno.
Just because there were references made to Apple products doesn’t mean he’s endorsing them. Of course any publicity is good publicity.
Do you seriously think Apple would attach themselves to a project as filthy as Bruno? Is it in Apple’s best interest to be in a movie where a guy holding 3 dildo’s fights with another guy? No. This is the company that bans apps that features softcore bikini shots of women for god’s sake.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Of course this is product placement…at first when I saw the scene I thought…lol..but when he talked about the specifics of the iPod, I knew it was obvious product placement…can’t knock the hustle.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:43 am
@floridian
Apple doesn’t pay for product placement. West Crosby is correct on the matter.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Typically when a computer is displayed a movie, it’s a Mac. It’s hard to believe that Apple isn’t paying for this exposure.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Uhm, the reason why you see so many Macs in tv shows and movies is that one, they look good, and two, the tv, news and film industries commonly use Macs and related software like FinalCut Pro and Logic, etc.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
“…in perhaps the nerdiest noticed goof in the history of mankind, Bruno says that he can’t give up his baby because he traded a MacBook Pro for it. Hmmm, maybe Baron Cohen is as much of an Apple nut as we are and didn’t even notice his inconsistent reference from earlier in the movie.”
Were you even paying attention? He says he had to trade a Macbook Pro to get his baby BACK.
July 13th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Looks like it should have been the flower power edition.