ET The Extra Terrestrial Loved Reese’s Pieces!

August 5, 2012

Reese’s Pieces were born in 1978, but became a cultural phenomenon with the release of the 1982 Steven Spielberg blockbuster ET, The Extra Terrestrial.

Visionary filmmaker Steven Spielberg has always been a step ahead, and his 1982 alien romp ET blazed the trail for modern day product placement. The film was to have a scene where a boy coaxes an abandoned alien into his clutches by use of a classic sex offender technique: leaving a trail of candy on the filthy ground.

But not just any candy. The choice was made months prior to production when Spielberg looked for a partnership with a candy company that would promise promotion for his film.

The very droppable M&M’s were selected, but the suits at Mars, Inc. refused to have their treats associated with a creature whose appearance falls somewhere between stray dog with mange and syphilitic genitals.



However, the waddling little monster didn’t bother the people at Hershey, who were hoping to bolster their Reese’s Pieces line. An agreement was made to produce a million dollars’ worth of advertisements for the film, and they plastered E.T.’s face right on the candy’s packaging.

The product is never mentioned by name here, though customers still had no problem identifying it by the package (as proven by 65% spike in Reeses Pieces sales after the movie hit theaters).