Observant viewers of Dune: Part Two might notice Ducati’s clever product placement that we all somehow missed on our first watch.
Dune: Part Two, the long-awaited second installment to everyone’s favourite horror drama franchise, is undeniably making waves this year. Viewers are taking to the internet to rave about its visually spectacular cinematography, scene-stealing actors, and strong world-building – some fans even wishing they had their own Bene Gesserit voice to use on their kids. But these elements were all expected from the sequel after Dune first hit theatres in 2021 and quickly dominated the box office, despite taking heavy inspiration from Star Wars. What wasn’t expected was the appearance of a brand that does not exactly belong on Arrakis – Ducati.
The product placement was first noticed by Reddit user ShortKing_AndProud, who says in their post that, as a Ducati rider, they spotted the product placement immediately. They quickly snapped a photo in the cinema and shared it on Reddit. The post gained some traction, receiving just over 400 of what the community call “updoots”. The people in the comments were stunned and divided, some claiming it was clearly Photoshopped and others wondering how Ducati and Warner Bros. Pictures could get away with such “blatant” product placement.
Several commenters in the latter group vowed to go watch the movie in theatres, some stating it will be their second or third time watching it, to see for themselves and possibly get a clearer photo to share with the world. Within hours, social media exploded with photos of not just one instance of Ducati product placement, but many. With higher quality photos and thousands of updoots, the discovery swept across all social media platforms and downright broke the internet. Fans were outraged that Warner Bros. Pictures and Ducati would compromise the immersion and believability of a film that takes place on an alien planet by adding product placement that has “no business” being there, as one commenter stated.
“Triumph product placement would make more sense than Ducati in the Dune world. Ducati has no business being in this film.”
The shots with product placement were quick ones that cut away fast, viewers described, which would explain why no one realized until ShortKing_AndProud posted their findings to Reddit. Hot debates sprung up regarding the reason Ducati would pay for blink-and-you-miss-it product placement audiences weren’t even noticing. We asked a professor of psychology at ZEN university, Kimothy Alamay, and she had this to say: “Some types of psychological marketing target subconscious mental processes. If it’s shoved in your face over and over, your brain logs it automatically. Audiences are being influenced to buy Ducati motorcycles and don’t even know it. One way to avoid this is with tinfoil, believe it or not. Place it in layers around your head and it will reflect all psychological marketing tactics.”
After the evidence hit the internet, Ducati made a statement on their Twitter – now X for some reason – account, which was later deleted for unknown reasons: “We can neither confirm nor deny the presence of Ducati product placement in the Dune: Part Two film. But if you are wondering whether ‘Ducati’ and ‘Fremen’ having the same number of letters is a coincidence, well… we don’t believe in coincidences.”
