Transformers: Age of Extinction's been out only a weekend and it's already making bank in China. There's no getting around the fact that a movie based on a line of toys is anything more than a major vehicle for product placement—including Chinese product placement, especially with the movie partly set in China.
Now, I'm going to reserve judgement on the movie. Michael Bay's Transformers polarizes people. We're here to talk about the Chinese product placement in the movie, something the Chinese themselves are talking about. Even China's communist party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, is getting in on the action, calling the movie more of a commercial than a film.
In their review, People's Daily complains that the movie's Chinese elements are just for show; something China's complained about multiple times before. But yes, I need to stop complaining about the movie. Let's get back on topic.
Through a cursory viewing of the movie I saw at least 10 instances of Chinese product placement in the movie.
So to avoid spoilers, I'm just going to list the Chinese products found in Transformers 4 and the explain what the products are.
While these products are most likely geared towards the Chinese consumer in China, it'll be interesting to see what kind of effect it will have for these companies Stateside. Maybe someone in the Midwest will be looking for some Shuhua milk?