The fake brand that connects Alfred Hitchcock to ‘The X-Files’
Product placement has become increasingly commonplace in film and television, with notable brands spending big money to have their wares displayed prominently on-screen. Of course, for filmmakers who aren’t interested in such tie-ins, there’s always a workaround.
Quentin Tarantino is perhaps the most famous for forsaking real-world companies in favour of his own in-universe creations, which has seen Red Apple cigarettes, Big Kahuna Burger, and Jack Rabbit Slims take pride of place in his filmography. However, an innocuous decision made by Alfred Hitchcock ended up having a seismic impact on the entertainment industry, most notably in The X-Files.
Created entirely for the purpose of avoiding copyright infringement, the Earl Hays Press prop company created the Morley cigarette brand as a means to prevent Marlboro from being paid any time a character wants to light up. Not only is the name derived from the latter’s ‘Marley’ nickname, but the distinctive red-and-white packaging is virtually identical.
The first major appearance of the entirely fictional smokes came in Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho, where Simon Oakland’s psychiatrist, Dr Richmond, is seen puffing away on a Morley in one of the seminal slasher’s final scenes. From there, Morleys would become a staple part of the film and television diet.
Despite appearing in William Shatner’s classic The Twilight Zone episode ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’, police procedural Naked City, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mission: Impossible, and Perry Mason throughout the rest of the decade, though, it wouldn’t be until The X-Files premiered in 1993 that Morleys gained a new lease of life and level of visibility.
In Chris Carter’s episodic sci-fi classic, not only is it the brand of choice for William B. Davis’ Cigarette Smoking Man – who would be a key part of the series for virtually the entirety of a run that comprised 11 seasons and two feature-length spinoffs – but the company itself became integral to several standalone stories and overarching plotlines.
At one point in the seventh season, FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully attempt to subpoena Morley after discovering its products had been infected by a mutant strain of tobacco beetles, resulting in numerous deaths, while the Smoking Man was a recurring antagonist who was almost always seen holding a Morley between his fingers, as well as crumpled packets being discovered at various locations being picked up on as evidence by the intrepid central pairing.
Beyond that, Morleys have been spied everywhere from Friends to Curb Your Enthusiasm via Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Tony Scott’s Spy Game, establishing it as Hollywood’s premiere fake cigarette. Like many things in cinema it all traces back to Hitchcock’s towering influence, although it was only The X-Files that opted to make it such a prominent fixture of its storytelling and characterisation over such an extended period of time.
