Originally published February 2025. Updated June 2026.
In 1982, The Hershey Company paid roughly $1 million to feature Reese's Pieces in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Reese's Pieces sales rose an estimated 65–85% in the months following the film's release, depending on the source cited. The deal — declined first by Mars for M&M's, then accepted by Hershey — became the founding case study of modern brand-in-content product placement, taught inside MBA curricula and referenced in every marketing handbook since.
The deal
- Mars declined the placement opportunity for M&M's — a decision now studied as one of the most expensive passes in marketing history.
- Hershey accepted, with Reese's Pieces written into the film as the trail of candy used to lure E.T. into the house.
- The deal value has been reported at roughly $1 million in placement, promotional support, and cross-marketing — modest by today's standards, transformational at the time.
The result
- Reese's Pieces sales increased materially in the months following the film's June 1982 release — most sources cite a 65–85% sales lift.
- National distribution accelerated as retailers responded to demand.
- The candy moved from a regional Hershey product to a mainstream national brand on the back of one creative integration.
Why the case is taught
Three reasons. First, the integration was native — the candy was a plot device, not a billboard. Second, the cultural lift was massive and measurable in a way that early product placement rarely was. Third, the counter-example — Mars passing on the same deal — makes the case bidirectional. Marketing students learn the upside through Reese's and the cost of category caution through M&M's.
How it informs food and beverage marketing today
The E.T. deal is the structural ancestor of every modern food-and-beverage integration play — from Bud Light's Super Bowl spots, to Coca-Cola's long Olympic and FIFA partnerships, to the more recent wave of TikTok creator integrations that drive grocery sell-through (the Stanley cup and Owala water-bottle waves being adjacent comparisons). The mechanism is the same: get the product into the cultural moment as a participant, not a sponsor.
