Product placement is a form of advertising in films and television shows, in which the advertiser of a product pays a fee (or offers another consideration) in return for having the products seen on screen. In the Back to the Future trilogy, the amount of product placement ran the full spectrum from subtle background uses to becoming a major part of the plot.
Uses of product placement
On the DVD commentary to the three films of the trilogy, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale commented on the different uses of product placement in the film. The first was that in which an agent for the studio would make a bargain with an advertiser to feature products in return for a fee, without any control by the director. Zemeckis and Gale described that form of placement as distasteful to them, similar to having an additional director in control of part of the film, and supported the refund of $50,000 to the California Raisin Board, which had received a brief appearance of the word "RAISINS" on the bench upon which Red the Bum was seen sleeping when Marty returned from 1955.
Another form of placement, under the control of the producers, relied upon specific brands and logos to make the film more realistic. For the first film, businesses whose logos had been different in 1955 than in 1985 were sought out. Although bids were made for Shell Oil and Coca-Cola to be seen in the film, the producers chose Texaco and Pepsi respectively, because their logos had been noticeably different in 1955. Likewise, in painting a picture of what 2015 might be like, the producers sought futuristic products in return for placement. For the third film, which took place in 1885, references to brand names were fewer, although not entirely non-existent.
Back to the Future
In the first film, the placement of brands was fairly subtle, as in the case of Pepsi products being seen at the dinner table, or a Toyota truck being pulled into a Texaco station.
Both the Miller Brewing Company and Budweiser were visible in Hill Valley, with trucks from both companies on the streets in 1985, and cans of both Lite Beer and Bud Lite present in the McFly family refrigerator. After wrecking George McFly's car while drinking beer, Biff Tannen took a light beer from the refrigerator and complained about it. In 1955, only Miller Beer was present in Hill Valley; Marty passed a delivery truck on his way into downtown, and Sam Baines had an open bottle of the beer at his dinner table. Lorraine McFly drank Popov vodka.
The McFly family kitchen included such products as ScottTowels, Raid insecticide, Pledge was, Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies (and two other cereals), Maxwell House coffee, Wonder Bread, McCormick pepper, French's Instant Potatoes and French's mustard, and Scott bathroom tissue.
Doc fed Einstein both Kal Kan canned dog food and Milk Bone dog biscuits.
Back to the Future Part II
In the sequel, brand names were especially prominent, particularly in updated versions created for the world of 2015. Hill Valley was awash with products from such brands as Pepsi, Nike, Mattel, Pizza Hut, Black and Decker, The Weather Channel, Texaco, 7-Eleven, AT&T, and others.
Pizza Hut provided not only their company name, but a professional food stylist and pizza kitchen to be at the set of the future McFly house to make hot, attractive pizzas for each take.
Back to the Future Part III
On the other hand, there was almost no product placement in 1885, the setting for the final part of the trilogy, although a member of Buford's gang commented on the word "Nee-kay" (Nike) on Marty's "moccasins". Also, the name of the Wells Fargo building was prominent as Marty dodged a stagecoach which is now the bank's logo.
Marty also mentioned learning how to shoot at 7-Eleven (where he had played the video game Wild Gunman), and picked up a pie plate from the Frisbie Pie Company, concluding that he could use it as a frisbee.