Why Characters Using iPhones Can Spoil A Plot

Have you ever noticed how many movie characters using iPhones? It’s quite a few. According to data published by PCMag, Apple’s iPhone made 623 appearances on the big screen throughout a total of 2,227 movies. The only other product placement that beats the iPhone is the Apple MacBook, with 867 placements.

It’s almost impossible to find a movie that doesn’t have product placements. Product placement is when companies pay the creators of a film to show their products on screen for the purpose of being seen and gaining brand recognition. You can see this everywhere you look, but you may not have noticed because most product placements are for common items you see every day.

For example, there are brand name cans of soda, laundry detergent, and clothing. In the movie, it seems like the characters are just using these items, but they’re actually intentionally placed.

For many years now, movie characters have been using a variety of smartphones, but the iPhone is usually the easiest to recognize, thanks to the giant Apple logo on the back. If you’ve ever wondered why movie characters don’t use smartphone cases, it’s because cases hide the brand’s recognizable logo. And that’s the point of product placement – to get a brand noticed. However, whenever you see characters using iPhones, it can actually give away the plot.

Spoiler Alert: Only Certain Types Of Characters Use Iphones

If you don’t want to potentially spoil every future movie plot, you should probably stop reading here, because the presence of iPhones in movies says a lot more than just how much money Apple has spent on brand advertising.

The secret? Only good characters are allowed to use iPhones in movies. Apple strictly forbids villains or any kind of negative character from using an iPhone on the big screen. This was made known when Knives Out director Rian Johnson explained the situation using characters from his own film as an example. According to several sources, Apple has this clause explicitly written into their product placement contract.

Why Can’t Villains Use Iphones?

You’ll never see a villain or negative character using an iPhone in a movie because Apple doesn’t want their products to be associated with negative thoughts and feelings.

If you think about it, when you’re always seeing movie characters using iPhones, you’re going to start associating the iPhone with those characters and all of their traits and the movie plot itself. If Apple allowed villains – or even morally questionable characters – to use iPhones on screen, people would begin to associate the iPhone with negative traits, negative dialogue, and other unwanted factors that happen on screen. This may only happen on a subconscious level, but subconscious beliefs are quite powerful. If people associate iPhones with negative impressions subconsciously, they might not favor the Apple brand as much.

There Are Ways Around Plot Spoilers

Although by now it should be obvious that you can look at a character’s phone to assess whether or not they’re a villain, that may not always be accurate. For example, if Apple pays a production company for product placement, that doesn’t mean every good character is going to be using an iPhone on screen. There might be one or two characters using iPhones, and others who use a different brand or an unbranded phone. By using this information to determine who the villains are, you might only be able to rule out a couple of characters.

It’s hard to imagine movie producers not accepting payment for iPhone product placements. It’s basically free money, as long as they can write the use of smartphones into the plot, which is easy unless the movie takes place in a time before cell phones. However, filmmakers who want to maintain the surprise will find ways to avoid giving away the plot. Some may not accept product placements from Apple, and others will simply use iPhones sparingly.

There’s also a chance that other smartphone manufacturers will seek product placement in movies for a fee, and they may be willing to allow villains and heroes to use their devices. They probably won’t pay as much as Apple, but for filmmakers who want to preserve their plot, it would be a desirable partnership.

Besides, many movie villains are revered and even worshipped, despite their evil deeds. Connecting them with a particular phone brand may not always be a negative association, but that’s something each director will need to decide for themselves.