Euphoria Finale Slammed for Coca-Cola Product Placement

has been criticised for its 'constant Coca Cola product placement' in the series finale as fans argued it appeared more than one of the main characters.

's character Jules' only appearance in the episode was in a blink and you'll miss it scene in her New York apartment painting.

In comparison, fans noted that the brand was spotted more than a dozen times during the extended episode, which had a run time of 1 hour and 33 minutes.

Fans of the show were left disappointed Jules didn't receive a satisfying ending, after barely appearing in series three despite previously being an integral cast member. 

Viewers noted when Rue returned beaten from the compound where she was being held at the start of the episode, drug dealer Alamo gave her a bottle of Coca Cola with a Percocet painkiller tablet as he claims will help with her injuries.

A bottle of the fizzy drink also appeared in the cup holder in a van with two traffickers and during their conversation the camera shot zooms into the Coca Cola bottle.

After noticing these moments and others, fans accused the show of 'product placement' or the episode being sponsored by the brand.

They said: 'That Coca-Cola placement in Euphoria was so obvious I half expected Zendaya to turn to the camera and say "thirst knows no drama"; 'Rue just got dragged by a horse and Alamo is pouring her Coca Cola???';

'Coca Cola was a paid actor in this last episode of Euphoria'; 'The amount of Coca Cola bottles being shown. It's already screaming product placement and that the series finale is sponsored by Coca Cola'; Those from Euphoria trying to shove Coca Cola into every scene they could'.

Noting Jules' lack of screen time compared to the popular beverage, others said; 'Coca Cola having more screentime than Jules'; 'Jules showed up for like 1 minute throughout the entire season of Euphoria and she was always painting horrible pictures'; 'Coca Cola had more screentime than Jules'. 

While many assumed that it was linked to product placement, some viewers interpreted the Coke bottles as an intentional reference to Coca-Cola's historical association with cocaine in its original formula. 

When Alamo serves Coca Cola shortly before Rue consumes the fentanyl-laced pills that kill her, it could be interpreted as the drink being a symbol of substances packaged as comfort, pleasure, or normality.

The finale is also saturated with American imagery—religion, capitalism, addiction, and the opioid crisis. 

The Coca-Cola branding fits that pattern because it is one of the most recognisable symbols of American consumer culture. Some 

viewers therefore saw the it as part of the episode's commentary on addiction and the American Dream, rather than merely product placement.

The finale kicked off with a chaotic heist, as Rue broke out of a compound belonging to her former drug boss Laurie (Martha Kelly).

In the previous episode she was sent there to retrieve items that were stolen from her current boss's safe.

She escaped while Laurie's associate and relative, white supremacist drug dealer Wayne (Toby Wallace) and his girlfriend - and Rue's former friend - Faye Valentine (Chloe Cherry) were supposed to be watching her.

After slicing Wayne's leg and punching Faye in the face, Rue bolted with a bag in her hand, narrowly escaping as a pursuing Wayne started shooting at her.

The getaway took a bizarre turn when one of Wayne's henchmen temporarily snatched Rue by lassoing and dragging her behind a horse, only for him to be taken out by a sniper bullet from one of Rue's friends, allowing her to escape.

Rue brought the bag to her boss, strip club magnate Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who told her: 'You was right all along. You and me, we was meant to be.'

The bag contained no money, only IDs, which heavily implied that Alamo was involved in sex trafficking.

He then told her she was his 'employee of the year' and to take a break from work and 'heal up.'

Alamo - who was accidentally tipped off that Rue was working for the DEA - also gave her Percocet for her injuries.

Later in the episode, the DEA descended on Laurie's compound, ambushing her in the middle of a massive drug deal just as a border-crossing ambulance packed with fentanyl arrived.

Having realised ahead of time that they were being set up, Faye and Wayne managed to make a quick escape.

As a panicked Laurie was heard saying 'I can't go to prison', before taking her own life by hanging herself as she jumped from the roof.

However, Alamo's henchmen Bishop and Big Eddy switched ambulances, so the DEA only found a dead rat under the floor of the vehicle.

Rue then went to her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor and mentor Ali Muhammad's apartment to recover.

She took more Percocet and started listening to the Bible on her phone. In a dream like sequence Rue was pictured driving past herself as a kid, alongside her mother and sister.

The drive was prompted after Rue hallucinated that her close friend Fezco escaped from prison.

'I have to go get him,' Rue told Ali, adding, 'I promised him that if he ever got out, I would go pick him up. I have to go.'

In a callback to the first season, she visited his convenience store, which was now boarded up and abandoned. In another throwback scene Rue and Fez were seen looking happy.

She later ran into a police blockade, before breaking into her childhood home. There, she encountered her mother Leslie (Nika King), who was seen reaching for her hand.

The viewers were then shown that in reality, Rue was on the floor after taking too many pills, and was reaching out her hand into the air.

Ali found her dead on his couch in the morning.

He later took a sample of the Percocet to test it, and found out it was laced with fentanyl. It turned out Alamo killed Rue as revenge for her working with the DEA.

Later, at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, Ali talked about the disease of addiction, and how he thought 'that if you can empathize with an addict, you can empathize with a dealer.'

However, he admitted he no longer believes that, and said the 'real disease is people no longer know the difference between right and wrong.'

Rue's old girlfriend Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) channeled the loss into her art, painting Rue in bright yellow as she cried.

Meanwhile, Cassie was left a widow following her husband's death.

Nate had been in heavy debt to gangster Naz (Jack Topalian), who put him in the coffin with a breathing apparatus as a pipe.

The plan was to keep Nate in the coffin for a three-day period while his spouse Cassie would try to raise the funds, but a rattlesnake made its way down the pipe and fatally bit him.

After finding Nate's body, a disheveled Cassie was seen with tear-streaked makeup and still wearing the same dress while having breakfast with her manager, and former best friend, Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), who was also reduced to tears.

'What do I do?' Maddy asked her. Cassie then sat next to her and put her head on Maddy's shoulder.

'We'll figure it out together,' she said, as Maddy gave her a tender kiss on the head.

Cassie later told her sister Lexi (Maude Apatow) that she and Maddy would be turning her home into an influencer/OnlyFans house.

Lexi asked Cassie if Nate was ever coming back, revealing that she didn't know he died.

Meanwhile, Maddy went to meet Alamo at the strip club, where he told her he wants the American dream and for them to have 'four beautiful coca-colored babies' together.

At the same time Ali, wearing his military uniform, entered Alamo's Silver Slipper strip club with a shotgun.

Following a lengthy standoff, Ali fatally shot the strip club owner after a cowardly Alamo attempted to use Maddy as a human shield.

At the end of the episode Ali visited a religious homestead that Rue stopped at back in episode one.

He told one of the girls living there that Rue was his daughter, and explained that she is now in a 'better place.'