E.T. and Reese's Pieces

In the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Elliot laid a trail of Reese’s Pieces for E.T. Reese’s Pieces were introduced in 1978 and were practically a brand-new product when the movie came out in 1982. After the movie hit the theaters, sales of Reese’s Pieces topped M&M’s for the first time ever. Sales of Reese’s Pieces went up by 65%, and soon they were being sold in theaters, where they had never been before. This demonstrates the potential power of product placement.

Here, you can see Elliot scatter the Reese’s Pieces to lure E.T.

The original script for E.T. called for Elliot to scatter a trail of M&M’s to lure E.T. Yet, when Amblin Entertainment asked the M&M division of Mars, Inc. for permission to feature M&M’s in the movie, the company refused! They decided that they did not want their candy to be associated with aliens or some such nonsense.