A Tribute to Barbasol’s Curious Product Placement Agreement in Jurassic Park (1993)

A few years ago, the ad agency I was working for at the time asked me to write a blog post about product placement in horror movies. Of course I obliged, because I love horror movies and I am ever intrigued by product placement. That’s why today I’d like to discuss whether or not Jurassic Park is a horror movie.

Psych. Nobody cares.*

I bring up that blog post because a recent rewatch of Jurassic Park led me to realize that I made a grave omission in the paragraph I wrote about that film (which focused on the prominent featuring of Jeep Wranglers and Ford Explorers in the park). I forgot to mention the most important and intriguing product placement in the film: the Barbasol can with a secret compartment.

I am fascinated by the nature of this partnership. I recently discovered** that in Michael Crichton’s novel, it’s a can of Gillette shaving cream, not Barbasol. Does this mean Universal Pictures approached them and they asked for too much money? Does it mean Universal assumed nobody at Gillette reads books and made an under-the-table deal with Barbasol? Or does it mean Universal simply opened up a shaving cream corporate bidding war? It’s pretty funny no matter the case, I think.

But I’m more amused by the fact that Barbasol signed off on being part of the villain plot. As you know, since you’ve seen Jurassic Park, Newman from Seinfeld is an IT guy for the park, and he cuts a deal with some shady characters to steal dinosaur embryos from the Jurassic Park labs (which he somehow has access to). They give him a Barbasol can to hide the dinosaur embryos in. And Barbasol was just cool with their brand being associated with villainy, I suppose.***

The part I love the most, though, is that nobody thought this would look suspicious. Newman just sits down at his desk with a large can of shaving cream like it’s a normal thing to have at the office. These are supposedly among the smartest scientists in the world, and apparently they were like “Ah, there goes Newman, shaving at work again.” If it had been me, I would’ve called the police immediately. Nobody should be shaving at work.****

These odd circumstances behind this branding partnership didn’t stop the folks at Barbasol from milking it for all it’s worth. This most legendary can of shaving cream is featured in the Jurassic Park video game, the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios, and even in the Lego Jurassic World game. And when regular Jurassic World came out, you bet those brainiacs at Barbasol plastered dinosaurs all over their cans.*****

In fact, the partnership is going strong almost three decades later, as Barbasol just launched a new line of dinosaur-emblazoned products, even though I swear I haven’t seen Barbasol on a shelf since the 20th century. I am told that the Barbasol can even plays a role in Jurassic World: Dominion itself.****** They really did get the whole gang back together for one last ride, didn’t they?

*It is, though. Dinosaurs are scary.

**By “recently” I mean this week, when I was doing “research” for this newsletter.

***I went to a film festival in Portland, Oregon years ago and attended a lecture on legal usage of trademarked products in films. From what I remember, the gist of it is that you are allowed to have product usage and branding in your film as long as the product is being used for its intended purpose. (i.e. It’s fine to have a bottle of Jack Daniel’s at a bar.) This Barbasol thing…does not qualify, I think.

****Unless you’re a barber and you’re shaving someone else. Shouts out to barbers.

*****If I had worked for Barbasol’s agency of record at that time, I would’ve suggested creating our own dinosaur: the Barbasaurus. It would’ve been a huge hit and I would’ve made tons of money. It’s too bad, really.

******No, I haven’t seen it yet, nerd. I’ve been busy, and all of you have told me it’s bad anyway.

Jurassic Park is available on HBO Max and DirecTV, and it’s available for rent elsewhere.