ShowBIZ Data reports that a Star Wars inspired beer commercial won a prestigious advertising award this week:

A Chilean beer commercial submitted in the Best Use of Television category won the Media Lion Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Awards Tuesday. The commercial, "The Force Is With Cristal" was presented in such a way that it appeared at first to be a product placement within the screening of Star Wars on Chilean television. It then seamlessly segued into an actual spot for Cristal beer. (In one instance, Luke Skywalker reaches for his lightsaber, but pulls out a can of beer instead.)

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Update: Nerf-Herders Anonymous adds:

To see clips of the Cristal Beer commercials (stills) everyone can visit OMD (creator of the ads). They use Ben Kenobi in the stills here.

And here's an excerpt from the site:

While choosing the Star Wars Trilogy TV broadcast as a vehicle to market Cristal Beer in Chile, OMD simply wasn?t willing to accept the universal truth: ratings drop dramatically during advertising breaks. Instead, they audaciously capitalised on the movie itself by inserting Cristal Beer into the final moments of scenes before cutting to the break.

Creating footage mirroring these select scenes, OMD was able to seamlessly integrate the product in what seemed to be the movie itself. Unlike traditional sponsorship or more subtle product placement, the blatant appearance of the brand generated surprise, curiosity and finally, the type of warm humour that makes viewers feel like they are in on the joke.

Hit the link above to read more.