Throughout the 1970s, J&B whisky bottles cropped up with remarkable regularity in Italian polizieschi, commedia sexy all’italiana and particularly giallo films as a signifier of sophistication and virility, probably influenced by the brand’s popularity among the Italian American celebrities Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
J&B scotch is the preferred spirit of R. J. MacReady (portrayed by Kurt Russell), in the 1982 John Carpenter film The Thing, and is shown drinking it on multiple occasions throughout the film.
In the 1987 film Moonstruck, Ronny shares a bottle of J&B scotch with Loretta at his apartment after she asks him for a glass of whiskey.
In the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, the main character Patrick Bateman is a habitual drinker of J&B.