First of all I have to admit that I made a mistake in my annual blog post The Best of 2011. I gave the Product placement surprise of the year award to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the premise that main character Lisbeth Salander was using Sony Vaio instead of an Apple. She was, after all, an Apple girl – Stieg Larsson author of the Millennium trilogy made it really clear that Lisbeth is a loyal Apple user.

Let me correct that mistake. After watching David Fincher’s adaptation of Larsson’s novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I could say that Apple played prominent role in the movie and that both Lisbeth and the other main character Mikael Blomkvist used Apple’s products very often.

Apple

MacBooks could be seen in several scenes throughout the movie. Fincher remained true to the book, so both Lisbeth and Mikael use Apple computers.

Apple in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)


Apple in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Sony TVs and mobile phones

The movie was distributed by Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, so it was expected that all devices would be Sony’s. It many movies, produced by Sony’s subsidiaries, characters use Sony Vaios, but obviously TGWTDT was an example.

Sony TV in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Epson printer

Epson printer in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Billy’s frozen pizza

This is a nice addition; because I remember that in the novel Larsson mentioned that Lisbeth ate Billy’s frozen pizza quite often.

Billy’s frozen pizza in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Chateau Clinet wine

Chateau Clinet is a small estate in Bordeaux, France, which has become very popular during the past decade and also received some of the highest possible scores from wine critics. A bottle of Clinet wine can be seen at the dinner in Martin Vanger’s house.

Clinet wine in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Wayne’s Coffee

Wayne’s Coffee is a Swedish-based coffee-house chain founded in Stockholm in 1994. The chain grew with locations in several Scandinavian countries as well as further out into the Baltic region. Today it operates over 100 coffee shops.

Wayne’s Coffee wasn’t mentioned in the book, but it’s a nice fit, since there are several Wayne’s coffee shops in the Stockholm.

Wayne’s Coffee in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Nine Inch Nails sweater

This is not really product placement but more like homage to Trent Reznor’s music band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor and fellow composer Atticus Ross composed the score for the movie.

Nine Inch Nails sweater in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Bobby Fischer’s 60 memorable games

My 60 Memorable Games is a chess book by Bobby Fischer, first published in 1969. It is a collection of his games dating from the 1957 New Jersey Open to the 1967 Sousse Interzonal. The book that Lisbeth bought for her legal guardian Holger Palmgren and can be seen in a bar is regarded as one of the great pieces of chess literature.

Bobby Fischer’s book and SonyEricsson in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)

Purell sanitizer [spoilers]

When Martin takes Mikael as a hostage in his basement we can see a bottle of Purell sanitizer which is obviously used to disinfect murderer’s hands. According to the article in The Atlantic Purell was totally unaware of its role in TGWTDT, not to mention the product’s use in that particular scene. Purell’s representative also said that they would not endorse or promote this type of product placement.

Purell sanitizer (seen in the background) in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, Columbia Pictures, screen capture)


You can find additional pictures of product placement from the movie at Brands & Films’ Facebook page
———————

Other movies from the ‘Product placement in pictures’ series:

The Help

Drive

Crazy Stupid Love

Horrible Bosses

Friends With Benefits

The Smurfs

Fast Five

The Taking of Pelham 123

Morning Glory

Hall Pass

Due Date

Drive Angry

Limitless

No Strings Attached

 

14 Comments
  1. Great job but, you forgot one more thing, the camera used to take photos of the slaughterd cat, it’s Sony NEX something (I guess) ;-)

  2. i know that i’m so late to the party, but they were not really true to the book in the movie.
    The book said “iBook” and “Powerbook”

    the laptops used in the movies are 2007 Macbook Pro and a late model Unibody Macbook Pro.

  3. My understanding is the books were written around 2003-04, so of course the technology was several years behind when the movies were made.

  4. ha you also missed the car they use for going to the island.
    Some of this days i´ll shoot my eyes and start ignoring brands in movies (i already did), just like i do in internet.
    Directors must choose quite careful their products, not just because, the products must fit into the plot very well.
    Now i know how to do a movie with out my money¡¡
    they just missed to show the brand from the dildooo¡LOL

  5. you forgot the Grey Moncler Jacket, The Range Rovers, British airways, swedish retailer indumenti.se , Volvo Cars although i think they probably didnt pay, Dell Screens, TGV. Honestly they managed to fit quite a lot in. Im surprise Anne summers didnt get a look in!

  6. Hi!
    I’m interested in something. If you will watch “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” somewhere between 16:44 – 16:46, you will see some Nokia equipment, later used at 23:44. What is it?
    Thnx

  7. Really good film. thanks for your catch the goods in the film but it may be more detailed like “apple macbook” but which spec 15″ or 13″ or Epson model (i get the model also after 2-3 times watched)

    Thanks also