In the episode “Seinfeld” The Rye “(January 4, 1996), Kramer (Michael Richards, star of “The Michael Richards Show“) becomes in love with a canned pasta product called beef-a-reeno, mainly because it can buy it cheap from its release of local loose grocery store. In this episode, it also took a job as a taxi driver in Hansom, and was put in charge of a horse named Rusty that he leads around New York. When Kramer finds that he bought the ox horse Nourish for the horse, which bought the horse-bearing too much, he appears on the horse, which has razed the horse too much, he appears that he can nourish for the horse of Beef-A-Reno, he appears that he can feed, which down too many events, the beef horse, it is one can feed, which are dripping too much Eventtifle.

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The canned pasta, however, make the horse of uncontrollable flatulence suffer, which immediately points out the passengers of Kramer Hansom Cab. Because the horse feels so bad, some of its customers finish their journey early, only to go home and interfere with George (Jason Alexander), who was occupied with his own plans in the “A” of the episode.

“Seinfeld” was a massive success, of course, and most of the brand products mentioned in the program did not count on the association. Even if Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) mentioned something in a negative light, it was a positive brand placement for everything he was talking about. “Seinfeld” has rarely invented false products for their scripts (common in films and television), to keep an element of realism.

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But not everyone was flattered by his product presented on “Seinfeld”, which was certainly true for the Boyardee chef, a brand founded by the real chief Ettore Boiardi in 1928, and owned by American Home Foods in 1996 when “Seinfeld” was broadcast. It seems that the original script of “The Rye” called the product “Beef-A-Reeno” to be in fact the famous Beefaroni of the Boyardee chef. The manufacturers of “Seinfeld” asked American Home Foods their approval, and they refused it. According to An EW interview in 1997 with Glenn PadnickThe president of Castle Rock Television was one of the only times a product did not give approval.

It is easy to understand why. In most cases, “Seinfeld” only referred to real products in a neutral sense. If someone was surprised to eat A bar of snickers (endorsed by Godzilla) With a knife and a fork, it did not reflect badly on Mars, Inc., the owner of the candy bar. With the beef-a-reeno, however, the writers “Seinfeld” suggested that it was an unhealthy product inclined to give gas to a horse. If it is unlikely that anyone buy the Beefaroni of the Boyaredee chief to feed him with horses, the implications in health matters remain. Padnick noted that Castle Rock Television, the production company that supervised “Seinfeld”, only requested authorization to use product names if they thought there may be a negative inclination to their presentation. “Almost all the products mentioned in our show,” he said, “even if it was semi-no-no-no-minince, loved it.” Often, they simply used product names openly.

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Indeed, in “The Rye”, Kramer shows a trunk of bulk products, and They mention the EGGO waffles and Thon Starkist by name. However, when Padnick sent a letter to the Boyardee chief, they said that the name was to be changed. Hence the reason why Kramer – and Rusty – is reprimanded on the beef -a -reeno, not the Boeufaroni.

Of course, product names have become a little legally tights when Jerry Seinfeld started in Shilling for Nike in real life, and Jason Alexander began to sell Bretzels in Sabère gold. When the actors signed these contracts, they ceased to tact these particular brands. Jerry Seinfeld continued to wear Nike products as he has always done, but writers have become prudent to mention them in a positive light, to avoid any feeling of irregularity.

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The Boyardee chef, meanwhile, was bought by Conagra in 2000. Canned pasta products are still distributed to date.