The use of Reese's Pieces candy plays a small but memorable role in this film. Amblin originally asked Mars Inc confectionery if they had any objections to their M&Ms being named in the film. What happened next is unclear as one story says the marketing director at Mars apparently refused as he supposedly saw early drawings of ET and did not want the product associated with an alien creature as he has assumed the film would be similar in tone to Alien (1979). According to another legend, he expected Amblin to pay for the 'rights' to use the product, or according to the third legend he expected Amblin to sign a complicated contract over the matter. Whatever the actual reason, Amblin decided to look for another less complicated option and found Hershey were happy to let them use their Reese's Pieces (which had been released in 1978) with minimal fuss and a gentleman's agreement was all that was needed as well as a free supply to be used during the shoot. After the film was released, Hershey reported sales of Reese's pieces shot up by 300% and once the film was released worldwide the company started getting inquiries from around the world from retailers wanting to sell the product due to demand. When the Mars Inc board of directors got wind of the story the marketing director was called to a meeting with them and had to explain his decision why he turned down the free publicity the film offered. Although he was not dismissed the stigma of his mistake followed him round for the rest of his life and the apocryphal story is still sometimes mentioned in business schools as a classic example of a 'marketing mistake'.

Film

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