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Remember the scene where Mia is asking her car keys to Sebastian at the end of the party, and there is only Prius keys in the box?

Why are there so many Prius keys in the box? Is it just for fun, or is there a real reason?

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  • What do you mean only Prius keys? Aren't all Toyota keys the same? Do you have a photo?
    – Catija
    Mar 23, 2017 at 15:23
  • The Prius is a bit of a Hollywood joke, it being purported to be so 'green' everybody has to be seen driving one [yet it gets the same mpg as a Ford Mondeo, which rather makes the whole thing silly]
    – Tetsujin
    Mar 23, 2017 at 15:57
  • @Tetsujin: re: ford mondeo/fusion gas mileage. There is only one Prius, there are 6 fusion engine models most of which are normal 27MPG cars. I expect that once one starts to delineate the exact model, the joke has moved on.
    – Yorik
    Mar 23, 2017 at 16:55
  • well, both get closer to 50 these days... anyway, slightly irrelevant to the point that one is actually no more "eco" than the other. It's all in the marketing.
    – Tetsujin
    Mar 23, 2017 at 17:12

1 Answer 1

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I have not yet seen the movie myself, but as far as I understand its nothing more than product placement.

"As well as scenes of the film’s star Mia (Stone) being stuck in LA traffic behind the wheel of her Prius, one of the most memorable and talked about moments in the film is when she & Sebastian are trying to her parked car after a Hollywood party. When asked by the valet what car she drives, Mia’s response of a Prius is met with a wry smile and a panning shot of a line of parked cars that are almost all Priuses, reinforcing the stereotype of the eco conscious Californian." Source

My conclusion is, that this is a common case of product placement where you need a memorable scene, recognisable product (in this case parking lot full of Priuses) and a dialogue-environment to show it as natural part of film. I did not find online scene for this, so I don´t know if the scene was actually memorable or fitted in the movie, but according to your statement and source above the product was clearly recognisable and the environment was supported by the claim of eco-conscious California.

About Hollywood and Toyota Prius "Love Affair" you can read HERE, HERE and HERE. Also mentioned above in comments by Tetsujin.

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  • I found a similar article that hypothesized that the Prius gag was used to make the film "modern" ... to set it as occurring in 2016 rather than in the past or future.
    – Catija
    Mar 23, 2017 at 18:39

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