‘Future’ Consumption

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the future, along comes the attack of the conspicuous product placements in “Back to the Future II.”

Some are blatant, others more cleverly worked into the storyline. Such as the scene in which Michael J. Fox--who returns as time-traveling Marty McFly--pops a futuristic itty-bitty dehydrated pizza into a hydrator and, voila , he’s got an extra-large. But was it really necessary to show that Pizza Hut label--and Black & Decker’s logo on the hydrator?

“The use of the products expresses what the film makers wanted to show for the future,” said a rep for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Ent., which produced.

Some products have a “history,” reminded the rep, such as a Texaco gas station, also seen in “Future I.”

Pepsi was also plugged in “Future I”--remember when Marty ordered a “Pepsi Free,” and a soda jerk thought he didn’t want to pay for it? Pepsi resurfaces in “II” as the drink of the future. Called “Pepsi Perfect,” it comes in a weirdly shaped futuristic bottle.

Other tie-ins: space-age high-top Nikes that lace themselves, and a fictitious, skateboard-shaped Mattel “hoverboard” that “hovers” above the ground. USA Today is glimpsed, and AT&T; also makes it into the future--when Marty picks up a future-phone, he hears--and sees--that familiar recording, “Thank you for calling AT&T.;”