Spider-Man movie fans say Samsung's Galaxy product placement goes too far

It’s only been days since its release, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been a roaring success at the box office. Sony’s and Marvel Studios’ new film has been breaking records left and right, setting the bar very high for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Despite the success, the webcrawler’s latest flick is getting a lot of criticism, and Samsung’s partnership with the movie is partly to blame.

For those worried about movie spoilers, don’t worry, I have yet to see the film myself.

Leading up to the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series and Flip 8, Samsung struck a brand deal for a Spider-Man: Brand New Day crossover. The company has not been shy about squeezing the partnership for all its worth, using the superhero to not only tease its foldables, but also appear in full commercials. However, it’s the appearance of Samsung’s devices in the actual movie that has fans up in arms.

In older Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movies, the character has long used Sony Xperia phones. However, Spidey ditches his Xperia for a Galaxy in Brand New Day. Viewers say Galaxy phones pop up on the screen so often and blatantly that it’s difficult to ignore the ad placement.

Over on Reddit, Xperia fans are not thrilled about Spider-Man’s new daily driver phone. One of the commenters goes as far as to call the film “one big Samsung ad.” But it’s not just Xperia users who have a problem with the product placement. Even some of our own writers couldn’t help but notice the ad placement, calling it distracting.

Regardless of the backlash, it appears this partnership continues to be a win for Samsung. As the movie reaches a growing number of eyes, so does the company’s Galaxy devices.