Hulk cologne + 14 more bizarre sci-fi movie tie-in products
People like movies, and people like stuff. It didn't take much to put the two together, and nowadays huge tie-in marketing campaigns are to be expected with hit movies. But that doesn't mean they all make sense.
I mean, sure, automobile brands tied in to action movies usually work, and technology brands embedded in control room shots don't stand out too much. But a Watchmen-branded toaster? (Seriously, it's real.) That's getting a little ridiculous.
But it only scratches the surface of some of the classic bone-headed film marketing tie-ins out there.
Check out some of the most bizarre examples in our gallery below:
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The Avengers cologne. Released with different brands based on each of Marvelâs Avengers. You have to wonder how you can spin smelling like the Hulk as a good thing?
Silver Surfer coin. To hype Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Twentieth Century Fox (illegally) altered 40,000 quarters to feature the filmâs website and a promo. It really steamed off the U.S. Mint. The rare coins now go for up to $300 on eBay.
Watchmen condoms. Theyâre blue. Like Doctor Manhattan. Weâll just leave it at that.
French fast food chain Quickâs Darth Vader burger. A burger so black it could crush your soul.
A water squirter based on Freddy Kruegerâs face from Nightmare on Elm Street, dubbed the Freddy Fright Squirter. Sure, a kidâs toy based on the child-molesting mass murderer. That makes sense.
Star Trek Eggo waffles. As if you didnât play with your food already, Eggo introduced a limited edition run of toaster waffles with Trek messages and images.
Baskin Robbins Men in Black ice cream. If anything, we could maybe see a Dippinâ Dots tie-in. But, this just seems forced.
Transformers A4 printer paper. Because thatâs what you want to buy after watching Michael Bay blow a bunch of stuff up: Plain, white paper. Yeah.
Land of the Lost âSleestakâ Subway sandwich. Food and sci-fi have a weird, long history together. None much stranger than Subwayâs combo build around the Sleestak creature from the recent Land of the Lost reboot.
Neoâs phone from the Matrix. The studio produced 500 of the limited edition phones featured in the film, and sold them for a cool $500. The terribly low-tech phone had only one redeeming factor: It looked like the one Neo used. Oh yeah, it also had the Matrix them pre-loaded as a ringtone.
Itâs Tough to be a Bug theme park ride at Disney California Adventure and Disney's Animal Kingdom. This ride, based on the kidâs film A Bugâs Life, features creepy attacking insects that often terrify small children.
Harry Potterâs Nimbus 2000 vibrating broomstick. For kids. Yeah, this one was just a monumentally bad idea all around. It has since been pulled from the shelves.
Hunger Games Capitol Colors nail polish. Because thatâs what you take away from Hunger Games: Katnissâ nifty nail polish colors.
Street Fighter: The Movie (the game). A terrible videogame, based on a film, based on a videogame. Itâs actually pretty awesome, in a meta way.
Dunkinâ Donuts Captain America Coolatta drink. Cap wouldâve been proud to have his heroism and patriotism immortalized with a delicious cherry-flavored beverage.
