The product placements in Men in Black 3 have not gone unnoticed. From Ford to Dunkin' Donuts to cheesy tabloids, the franchise cashed in with brands looking to associate with the men in black (and the fans who love them).

One product placement that is causing some confusion, however, is the Men in Black's trademark sunglasses. No, not Sony's battle over who is to pay for the audience's 3D glasses, but the sunglasses worn by Agents J and K and, well, younger K (pre-K?)

It's one of the more bizarre cases in product placement recently that results in an officially licensed product being a knock-off of a product featured on-screen and long associated with the movie franchise.Continue reading...

Film: Men in Black 3
Total Products/Brands Spotted: 22
Standout Placement: Ford Taurus
Most Memorable Placement (positive): Glamour magazine
Most Memorable Placement (negative): Ford Taurus
Overall Product Placement Integration Grade (1-10): 5
Comments: Continuing the trend we noted a year ago with X-Men: First Class, the third installment in the Men in Black franchise — the world's new #1 movie — sets a good position of its action (and its viral marketing) decades back, cashing in on the 1960s craze. This setting allows for period-appropriate product placement such as one for Hamilton watches and placement gags involving Glamour magazine, Rolaids, the New York Mets and Viagra.

But the real star of the show is Ford, which is once again launching its Taurus with a sci-fi film.Continue reading...

"Weekly World News is the Wall Street Journal of otherworldly headlines. Any cultural project that deals with what's 'really' out there needs to be working with us."

So said Neil McGinness, CEO of the Weekly World News, when brandchannel asked him about the co-promotional campaign the "newspaper" has been running with Men in Black 3, which is poised to take over as the new #1 movie from The Avengers.

As viral marketing tie-ins and product placements go, the partnership is a tremendously appropriate one. Weekly World News was, after all, with the Men in Black franchise since the beginning.Continue reading...