We had some time to cruise social media during Labor Day weekend, and that gave us an opportunity to stumble on quite possibly one of the most exciting Twitter accounts we’ve found in a while. It’s called Movie Promo Merch Unlimited, and operates under the username @NightPromoting. It’s a celebration of promotional merchandise released alongside film debuts since the beginning of time (or at least the beginning of the movie biz).
A lot of the merch is pretty unsurprising. You have T-shirts, posters, maybe a coffee mug with the movie’s logo on it. But, plenty of it is much more entertaining and creative. The items that have strong tie-ins with the film’s subject matter really stand out, as do the ones that venture beyond the usual product choices.
The obvious choice for the best promotional item posted so far is this “Meet Dave” promo, which was just a giant version of Eddie Murphy’s head on a trailer that drove all around Los Angeles. I have never seen “Meet Dave,” and until this moment I had not planned on adding it to my list. But, you know, there’s just something about a 15-foot Eddie Murphy head that makes a guy reconsider his decisions.
https://twitter.com/NightPromoting/status/1168270916821893120
“Limitless,” the movie where Bradley Cooper uses a drug that lets him use 100 percent of his brain, thus giving him near-superhuman abilities, was clever with this promotional “pill” and literature that reads like a pharmaceutical ad. It’s fun when movies advertise components of the plot as if they are real and exist in the world, like the bus ad below.
https://twitter.com/NightPromoting/status/1167904609320333318
Then there’s this marshmallow dispenser commemorating the 1989 release of “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.” I have absolutely no idea if there’s any marshmallow dispensing in the movie, because I’ve never seen it. But, if any Trek fans want to educate me, please do.
https://twitter.com/NightPromoting/status/1168221484529213441
And perhaps nothing captured the leather-heavy vibe of “The Matrix” better than this collectible gift box. The only thing it’s missing is a pair of cyberpunk-chic wire-rim sunglasses, and maybe a red dress.
https://twitter.com/NightPromoting/status/1168223922174726146
For 2015’s “Spectre,” the Bond bosses put out a drinking glass, shot glass, cereal (for whatever reason) and, of course, a vodka shaker for everyone who knows the proper way to fix a martini Bond style. “Spectre” wasn’t the best Bond movie, but the marketing team hit the nail on the head with the Vodka shaker.
https://twitter.com/NightPromoting/status/1168207179582705671
There are plenty more to look at here. And since it’s a relatively new Twitter account, you’re getting in on the ground floor of this. For folks who enjoy nostalgia, you can’t get much better than a “Little Nicky”-branded Gameboy Color ad or a Burger King promotional campaign for “Wild Wild West.”
But, if we had to choose one of these products to take home, it would be the inflatable “BASEketball” from the eponymous movie, because we (read: Brendan) have seen that movie more times than we would care to admit. We also now know that no amount of promotional energy could make people like “The Love Guru.” That is, except this guy:
https://twitter.com/lovegurufan69/status/1168346215009980421
It’s about time someone took the time to celebrate the creative nature of movie promotions in this way. Twitter really is the perfect method for it, too, as it becomes somewhat of an anthology series, and other users can send in campaigns they’ve seen to be added to the pile.
