Do you remember these product placements in Top Gun, Cast Away, and other movies?

To be honest, it is not the same to have a regular pair of sunglasses compared to the sunglasses of a Hollywood star. Nor is it the same to wear $1,000 shoes as it is to wear the same $1,000 shoes as the protagonist of an iconic film.

Product placement is the art of sneaking advertising of any kind into the normal narrative of a movie or series. It can be as simple as seeing the protagonist of a great film drink a particular soft drink and, after two minutes, you want to drink one without knowing why.

Yes, long ago, Hollywood learned to play with viewers' minds. At times it is done so obviously, and shamelessly that it is humorous.

It doesn't always work. If not, it would be too easy. Moreover, the same examples always appear in the collective memory. We will look at the best product placements in history. Those whose results were legendary, turning the product itself into true pop icons.

Film critic Joe Morgenstern went so far as to say that 'The Italian Job' (2003) was the best car advertisement ever made.

Seeing Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, and company drive around in the iconic British vehicle caused sales to skyrocket by 22%.

Founded in 1990, Under Armour saw Hollywood as the perfect way to make itself known. Thus, in 1999 the company contacted Warner Bros to provide sportswear for their next film: 'Any Given Sunday.'

Months later, the CEO of the company, Kevin Plank, acknowledged that the film earned them a profit of $ 750,000. Today, Under Armour is on top of the sportswear world, even higher in sales than brands like Adidas in the United States.

When we say that Tom Cruise is a selling machine, we do so knowingly. Before 1982, the Ray-Ban Wayfarer model had sold 18,000 pairs. After the actor appeared with them in 'Risky Business,' sales reached ... 360,000!

Two years later, thanks to 'Miami Vice,' sales reached 720,000, and when they also appeared in 'Top Gun' (1986), they exceeded 1.5 million.

We must continue with 'Top Gun,' yes, also starring Tom Cruise. And it is that Maverick penetrated very profoundly into North American culture. In fact, the number of recruits for the US Air Force increased… by 500% after the movie!

But it was not the only product with which 'Top Gun' generated hype in 1986. Can anyone imagine Maverick without his famous Ray-Ban Aviators? No right? Everyone wanted to be as cool as him. Thanks to Cruise, sales of the glasses soared by 40%.

In addition to being the coolest trainers that anyone had ever seen at the time (1985), the Nikes from 'Back to the Future' fastened up on their own and had lights. Everybody loved them, but… the Nike Mag didn't even exist!

They were only made for the movie. However, in 2008, Nike decided to launch a limited edition of this model producing 1,000 units. To this day, you can still buy the Nike Mag model, and it is available in a myriad of colors...a pair will only set you back around $5000!

Steven Spielberg wanted the trail that ET was going to follow until it reached Elliot outside to be of M & M's, but Mars objected, thinking it would fail at the box office.

Big mistake. However, Hershey saw the opportunity and broke the bank with their now-famous Reese's Pieces, which tripled their sales just two weeks after the premiere.

The 17th James Bond film, 'GoldenEye,' was the first in which the agent did not drive an Aston Martin. Instead, James Bond opted for BMW's spectacular new sports car: the Z3.

Despite the fact that it did not hit the market until months after the premiere and did not have many gadgets, the German brand received 9,000 monthly requests for the car that James Bond was driving. Everyone wanted to tap into their inner spy by driving the same car as James Bond.

The Chevrolet Camaro sounded like an old car, from the eighties and out of style, until Optimus Prime arrived and became one.

The 'Transformers' trilogy renewed interest in this model and led the American firm to reach 60,000 units sold in one year. Something unthinkable months before.

Carrie Bradshaw's shoe obsession became the shoe obsession of millions of 'Sex and the City' fans. Sarah Jessica Parker's character said that Manolo Blahnik's shoes were art, and she treated them as such.

Sales of the shoes soared. There were even those who saved to buy a pair a year, depriving themselves of buying other whims to purchase the iconic footwear.

Image: 'Sex & the City,' HBO

It's one thing to put a product in a movie, and it's another for your product to be a character from the movie. And to top it all, it is named after your brand. And yes, this happened in 'Cast Away,' where Chuck (Tom Hanks) ends up alone, on an island, and his only friend is a Wilson-brand volleyball that he calls Wilson. No need to complicate things.

In tribute to the iconic character from the film, Wilson Sporting Goods Company launched a limited edition of the ball, featuring Wilson's face that sold like hotcakes.

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