The Alsace wine trade body, the CIVA, has reportedly paid €30,000 to have Alsace wines prominently displayed in a French film.
The wines will be seen in four scenes from ‘Les Parisiens’ directed by veteran filmmaker Claude Lelouch.
According to UK magazine Screen International, the four scenes consist of ‘three tight shots of Alsace bottles and one in which an Alsace Riesling is served at a bar and where the client remarks on its quality’.
This form of product placement is well known in US and UK filmmaking. The cult TV series Sex and the City once featured a bottle of American premium wine ‘St Supery’ in one particular scene.
However this kind of deal has been relatively rare in French cinema, but it is set to increase as producers and winemakers find ways to circumvent the Evin law of 1991 banning certain forms of alcohol and cigarette advertising.
Only last month, the Burgundy trade body, the BIVB, fell foul of the French courts with a ‘seductive’ line of wine advertisements.
‘This is a way for us to get around the Evin law and we are looking for other promotional avenues,’ said a spokesperson from the CIVA.
‘Les Parisiens’ is set to come out in September and it is the first film in Lelouch’s ‘Genre humaine’ trilogy. Lelouch is best known for his film ‘Un homme et une femme’ released in 1966 and which won two Oscars.
Written by Oliver Styles
