How Product Placement Took Over Science Fiction, From E.T. To Star Trek

These days, product placement is an accepted part of science fiction. We’re used to seeing big brands splashed all over every TV show and movie about aliens or the future. But it wasn’t always this way. Here’s the quick-and-very-dirty history of how on-screen advertising became a science fiction mainstay.
Science fiction helped to invent product placement, with Steven Spielberg’s shoehorning of Reese’s Pieces into E.T., making them the official candy of penis-fingered growly alien visitors.

 

http://io9.com/how-product-placement-took-over-science-fiction-from-e-5061426