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Our Weekly Economic News Roundup: From Tariff Refunds to Defense Spending
April 11, 2026
Wonderfully charming, a floating jar of Nutella surprised many of us when it appeared on the Artemis livestream:
Nutella’s appearance was the ultimate in the product placement that is supposed to subliminally sell cars or food or smartphones.
But NASA forbids it.
Product Placement
Nutella
Including Nutella, the Artemis II crew can select from 189 menu items:
However, NASA tells astronauts that they cannot promote individual products. The policy is so strict that when one Artemis II crew member referred to his Apple watch, he immediately corrected himself by calling it a “small powerful computing device” with an “outstanding camera.”
As a result, the unexpected Nutella flyby was a huge product placement opportunity for which other firms, elsewhere, pay millions of dollars. Hearing about it, Ferrero Group, Nutella’s manufacturer, immediately created the tagline: “Taking spreading smiles to new heights.,” and adding, ““Honored to have traveled further than any spread in history.”
Ford
To get an idea of what Artemis II generated for free, the media value that costs companies whopping amounts was $383 million in BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F.
Below, you can see the brands we probably barely notice in movies. In the #1 spot, Ford was present in 35 of 2024’s top 50 films:
Our Bottom Line: Competition
Product placement takes us to competitive market structures and how oligopolies compete. As large companies that utilize mass production on the supply side and need lots of customers for demand, oligopolies are our quintessential big businesses. And yet also, they need product differentiation. In addition, as Coca-Cola describes it, they want product presence.
Through the product placement that achieves differentiation and presence, oligopolies can afford to reach millions of people…
As did Nutella.
My sources and more: Thanks to WSJ for inspiring today’s post. From there NASA had the menu. Then, Darden, Slashfilm, and the Hustle had more of the facts and the analysis whereas Concave had the list.
