Since the rise of soap operas (television and radio shows blatantly sponsored by homeware brands), product placement has been a reliable way for brands to normalise their products.

Companies have been know to pay significant sums for this kind of passive advertising.

The more aware of this you become, the more often you’ll start to see coke cans perfectly rotated such that the logo points towards the camera, Starbucks logos in sweet spots of the screen, or bright white Apples on the face of laptops which main characters are tapping away on.

But with the latter… you’ll only see ‘good guys’ weilding iPhones or fiddling macbook. Apple are willing to let anyone use their products in film or television, on the condition that they are represented, “in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favorably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.”

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Knives Out and Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnston, while praising the Knives Out props department for their management of various clocks (digital and otherwise) throughout the film, pointed out that, “bad guys can not have iPhones on camera.”

Which is hilarious, ridiculous, and might just ruin the next mystery film you sit down to enjoy.

Sorry.