'Stranger Things' and Eggo: No product placement required
Ahead of the premiere of Stranger Things 2, show creators, executive producers, and twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer chatted with Yahoo Entertainment about the new season of their binge-worthy Netflix series. We’ll be sharing more of Duffers’ thoughts about the actual season after people have had a chance to enjoy it, but rest assured, this post is spoiler-free if all you’ve seen is season one.
The show might be supernatural, but it used real products that American families bought in the 1980s. Eggo got an especially large amount of time on screen in the first season. One could be forgiven if they thought it was as a result of an arrangement between the frozen waffle merchants and Netflix, but that’s not the case, according to the Duffer Brothers. “Someone has to give permission, but if you’re using the product in the appropriate way, it’s an easy ok. But it’s not like we’re working hand-in-hand with these companies,” explained Ross Duffer.
“You don’t want product placement,” added Matt Duffer. “You want it to be about what would these kids actually be into.”
“For season 2, Eggo was like, ‘Hey!’ You know?” said Ross Duffer. “So they helped us out with that Super Bowl spot and stuff like that. For season 2 with Eggo there was some cooperation, but no, they had no idea it [was going to be] in the show.”
The Duffer Bros. also told us how the kids are handling fame:
