Product Placement

So I went over the Old Navy to get some new shirts (I left some hanging up in my last Hotel room and SURPRISE! the can’t be found by the hotel staff).  While I was there I notices some really fun t-shirts with Marvel characters printed on them.  I’ve been looking into obtaining the license to create some new art work from a movie, so I found myself wondering how much Old Navy paid Marvel to be able to make the shirts.  I haven’t found anything about the amount for the deal, but I was surprised by the comic book that they gave me.

So, there is a promotion going on that coincides with Marvel’s 70th anniversary.  From Aug. 8-17 shoppers who purchase a Marvel T-shirt will receive a limited-edition reprint of the first appearance of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15.  (I actually got the book without the Marvel purchase.)  Here’s the comic reprinted exclusively for Old Navy.

So I’m reading through the story, remembering how in the original story Peter Parker made his own webslinging equipment and then I see it.  Peter Parker in his room working on his costume, just hanging out in his OLD NAVY T-SHIRT!!!!  I always thought that Petey was a bit geeky and wore a lot of button up shirts with pocket protectors, but there it was starring me in the face.  The revisionist history of Spider-man clearly shows that Pete was a fan of Old Navy.

It reminds me of this subtle bit of Product Placement from the 1992 film Wayne’s World.

by