When A blood-soaked Bruce Willis squatted barefoot on a glass-covered floor discussing the lack of nutritional value in a Twinkie bun, he was in fact earning a cool $100,000 to add to his multi-million dollar fee for the Die Hard film.

A surprisingly large number of companies are lining up to have their products degraded, with many willing to pay large sums for the honour. Apparently, exposure of any nature to a brand or image has a positive impact: when you go shopping, that brand will seem more familiar and so more attractive. A more familiar type of product placement is one which shows the product helping the movie's hero or heroine to win the day. As Rory Kelleher noted in The Irish Times last year, when James Bond took to driving a BMW roadster, sales of the new model skyrocketed in the US. Prior to the film's release, the company had to offer discounts; after Bond's escapades there were waiting lists for the car. If a film grosses £50 million (modest enough for a would-be blockbuster), the products will reach a captive audience of 13.7 million people directly; then there are all the videos sold and rented to follow.

Perhaps films will be the last resort for cigarette companies as their advertising avenues are being progressively closed. Tobacco advertising is banned in this State under a ministerial order which came into effect last July. Magazines with a circulation of 1,000 or more can't carry such ads.

Most newspapers and magazines had already banned tobacco advertising. However, the new order will affect Playboy, which carries cigarette ads and has an Irish circulation of about 10,000. Playboy is Ireland's third most popular magazine import, after Time and Newsweek. Eason's, which distributes most of the State's magazines, says it "will be" complying with the order and limiting distribution of Playboy to fewer than 1,000 copies.