Major brands pay big bucks to have their products used in movies, but every now and then the complete opposite happens.
On several occasions products have been invented in movies or TV shows and they’ve proved so popular that they’ve actually been created in real life.
It’s called ‘Defictionalisation,’ and here are five famous examples:
The Talkboy from Home Alone 2:
Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin) wreaked havoc in New York City with his Talkboy, a cassette recorder that could record and alter audio. The toy was a prop invented for the movie but it generated so much interest that an actual Talkboy was manufactured by Tiger Electronics a year after the movie was released. Check out this awesome 1990s commercial:
The Mighty Ducks NHL team from The Mighty Ducks:
The poison-tipped dagger shoe from Bond film ‘From Russia With Love’:
According to a study which was released last year, the CIA turned to James Bond movies for inspiration when it came to creating new spy gadgets in the 1950s.
“We know for sure that two devices were inspired by Fleming’s ‘Bondian’ technology,” said Dr Christopher Moran from the University of Warwick.
“We know the spring-tipped, poison-tipped dagger shoe … was created by Dulles’ (Allan Dulles was the CIA director from 1953-1961) team, though we don’t know whether it was ever tested out.
“The other bit of tech was the tracking device that Bond uses when he’s trying to track Goldfinger’s car. Dulles said the device worked well in open spaces but that it stopped working when it entered cities with lots of buildings — a bit like a modern Sat Nav.”
Quidditch from Harry Potter:
J.K Rowling not only invented the Harry Potter universe, but she also unwittingly created a new sport called Quidditch. In the books and films, Quidditch matches are played between two teams of seven players who ride their riding flying broomsticks. A real life version of the game, called Muggle quidditch, has now been created (sans flying broomsticks unfortunately). There are more than 500 teams around the world that play and all of them are members of the International Quidditch Association. Here are the rules:
Wonka chocolate bars from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory:
The 1971 cult movie was financed entirely by The Quaker Oats Company, who created a Wonka bar to help promote the movie (now that’s using your pure imagination). The original bars were recalled because they melted on shelves (and tasted horrible) but they’ve made several comebacks over the years. Although the chocolate bars have struggled, Nerds and Gobstoppers still remain popular.
Unfortunately there’s one fictional product that we’re all STILL waiting for in real life …