There’s no way to know this, but I am pretty sure that “Talladega Nights” recouped its production budget before it was ever released theatrically because of the countless product-placements that parodied product-placement and also helped fuel the story line.

Will Ferrell, now an entrepeneur and owner of website FunnyOrDie, must have learnt a lesson on that film and is bringing that lesson to his upcoming film for New Line “Semi Pro.”

The basketball comedy features tie-ins with Old Spiec and Bud Light as well as commercials for those two products that feature shaggy-haired ‘Jackie Moon’ (Ferrell’s character in “Semi Pro“) in them.

While many A-list stars still refuse to have their images depicted on any promotional materials for brands, Will Ferrell is making the most out of his. In one of the spots for Old Spice, his character tells consumers to “cauterize their sweat glands shut” with Old Spice’s new Pro-Strength anti-perspirant and in another he calls himself a “sweat scientist” saying “perspiration serves no purpose much like the appendix, man nipples or most of the human brain.”

Although Ferrell asked Old Spice to donate his fee for appearing in the spots to the Cancer for College charity, there’s no counting how much box-office windfall such promotional work can make for his film.

For Bud Light, Ferrell appeared in a Super Bowl commercial which featured the voice of a director shouting ‘cut’ repeatedly after Ferrell’s character ‘Jackie Moon’ says things about beer like: “refreshes the palate and the loins”; “a lot of sweat goes into every bottle … not literally, that would be gross”; and “Bud Light, suck one.”

“Semi Pro” releases wide on February 29, 2008

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