Apple Product Placement in the F1 Movie (spoiler free!)

[ericg301]

Last night I saw private screening of the new F1 movie—my company rented out a theater for us. I don’t know much about motorsports, but I do know a lot about Apple. So naturally, I was curious how much Apple product placement would be crammed into this thing, since you know, Apple produced it. It’s a very tech-heavy movie with a lot of gear.

Surprisingly, Apple showed a ton of restraint. Honestly, it caught me off guard given how over-the-top product placement can be in a lot of Apple TV+ shows. You’d expect a wide-release theatrical film like this to lean in even harder—especially since most of the audience isn’t necessarily made up of Apple customers. But nope. What is in there makes sense and fits naturally into the story. No random iMac sitting in someone’s kitchen just to be seen, for example. No superfluous Apple porn.

Here’s what I spotted:

• Plenty of iPhones, of course. It’s an Apple world—no Androids in sight. But even then, phones aren’t used that often, and when they are, it’s motivated by the story. There’s even one scene that kind of reads as anti-phone or anti-social media.
• I didn’t notice any other Apple products besides iPhone until maybe 45-60 minutes in (movie runs 2h36m).
• MacBooks (looked like all Pros)
• Mac Studio with Studio Displays—Brad Pitt even makes a joke about having two monitors.
• Magic Keyboard
• MAGIC MOUSE (honestly deserves a Best Supporting Actor nom)
• Mac Pro with the Pro Display XDR (the cheesegrater design is unmistakable)
• Airpod Max a couple of times, but Pitt's are covered in stickers so it's hard to tell
• I think I caught a split-second glimpse of an iPad Pro in a Magic Keyboard case during a busy tech scene.

I didn’t see any other iPads—kind of odd, since you’d think they’d be perfect for the race crew walking around the cars, monitoring telemetry and temperature or whatever they monitor. But nope.

Only one Apple Watch that I noticed, worn by a media person. None of the drivers or big-money types were wearing one—just mechanical watches for them.

Again, nothing felt forced. It all made sense in context. If you didn’t already know Apple produced the movie, you probably wouldn’t even clock the product placement as excessive.

Anyway, this got longer than I intended—but props to Apple (or Pitt & team for pushing back) for showing restraint.

Oh, and the movie was great!

 

[Mousse]

• Plenty of iPhones, of course. It’s an Apple world—no Androids in sight. But even then, phones aren’t used that often, and when they are, it’s motivated by the story. There’s even one scene that kind of reads as anti-phone or anti-social media.

So there are no "bad guys" in the show? It's a trope that the good guys uses Apple devices while the bad guys uses PC's and android.

 

[ericg301]

So there are no "bad guys" in the show? It's a trope that the good guys uses Apple devices while the bad guys uses PC's and android.

Oh yes, I'm aware of the trope. Let's just say the central conflict is more internal. There's not a true "bad guy" except father time.

 

[cjbryce]

Good list - Pitt's headphones were definitely AirPod Max.

One reason for underplaying their own product placement is probably the vast sums the production companies will have received from real F1 sponsors to have their logos left, right and centre. The cost offset for Apple would have been pleasingly significant.

 

[Cuesca]

Besides that, now I definitely want an IWC Pilot Chronograph APXGP. I also want a GT3 RS but that would probably make me financially strained for years for something I will be too afraid to track.