Butterworth & Son’s Izzy Glen looks at the relationship between coffee and films
When you think about the things that make cameos in the film industry, products/companies that might come to mind are usually car brands, phones and other electronics – usually a slow panning close-up of the leading star with the product.
However, many beloved films also involve coffee, either as a rendezvous for the characters meeting up to fall head-over-heels in love. Or a way for the new office girl to impress her scary co-workers by bringing them their extravagant, overpriced coffee without being asked to (to have them not care about her gesture and instead complain about a mistake – “NOT SKINNY?!”)
Some of the most famous 90s-2000s hits that have at least two scenes involving caffeine include You’ve Got Mail (1999) where two store owners realise they may have more in common than they’d like to admit, including loving coffee. Most of the time actors are drinking from empty cups or drinking water because of the amount of time scenes can take to perfect – if they drank espresso every time they’d struggle to concentrate!
Coffee often sparks danger in Zoolander (2001) – Derek Zoolander and his friends run into fatal trouble after they pick up their ‘orange mocha frappucinos’ and start a fuel fight, and when Jacobim Mugatuis is handed a frothy latte from his assistant, the poor minion is scolded (and scalded). With his own coffee range, it’s no surprise that director David Lynch’s films and TV shows pay homage to his beverage of choice. In Mulholland Drive (2001), gangster Luigi Castigliani spits out an espresso that’s not to his liking, embarrassing his host who declares it the world’s best coffee.
Of course it’s no surprise that big brand names have been seen in many, many films. Usually a close-up of a cup in case you’ve somehow forgotten what their logo looks like. Starbucks plays an interesting role as an item of product placement in the 2004 adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1994 anti-materialist cult novel, Fight Club (1999). Director David Fincher once stated that there’s actually a Starbucks cup secretly placed within every frame of the movie.
Some studio’s opt for funnier uses of coffee for their scenes, such as the one in Men In Black (1997). When Agent J (Tommy Lee Jones) asks Agent K (Will Smith) if he would like some coffee, K turns him down. That’s probably for the best; when J enters the office, the audience sees the coffee is made and dispensed by wormlike aliens.
The marketing strategy is faultless, once you’ve seen something, you want it. It might not be as in your face as you think, many companies just make sure their brand is an essential part of a film (eg Aston Martin and James Bond), which leads to consumers thinking about them subconsciously. A win-win situation.
Try looking out for coffee placement in films when you’re next having a binge or even drinking a cup of your favourite coffee while playing catch-up to your favourite show!
Butterworth & Son coffee roasters and tea smiths are based on Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds
Owner Rob Butterworth’s job takes him around the world visiting coffee farms to source great coffees
