When the characters are haggling on the price of Joan Wilder being taken to the nearest phone Jack Colton ask when offered traveller cheques he says “American Express” she replies “offcourse”, is this product placement for American Express, because it seemed weird travellers cheques would come up like that then point to specific kind?
shareMichael Douglas used to be in The Streets of San Francisco (1972) with Karl Malden, and Karl Malden was the spokesperson for "American Express" at one time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB8_S0ZzRCQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUzcbYuOrkw
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Karl+Malden+American+Express
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As above.
AmEx commercials with Karl Malden were on all the time and back then, we couldn't fast forward through commercials, so most people would've seen them. Michael Douglas was on Streets of San Francisco with Karl Malden. It was a good show, reran in repeats...and since there were only like five channels total when it was on, many (most) people had seen it.
Back then, being on TV was a big deal. If you were on TV, most people knew who you were.
So, little joke there. :)
While it might be considered product placement back in the day American Express were considered the best in terms of travelers cheques so it could be considered canonical for the times.
shareHe was verifying the quality. American Express were accepted anywhere.
share... But mostly it was a commercial.
shareMaybe, but it really was a pop culture thing, too. Like a lot of people say they need a "kleenex" when they really need a tissue. Or technically, i think escalator is a brand name, not the generic name of a moving stairway. In 1984, i didn't know you could get anything other than American Express branded traveler's checks.
shareI think CapnKaos nailed it. It'd be easy to write it off as a commercial if the movie was chock full of product placement. But aside from a can of Tab (which wasn't in your face advertising) I don't remember much, if any.
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I thought it was a subtle joke about the American Express commercials at the time, which always had the "American Express?" Questioned as 'do you accept' and the reply of "of course".
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