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Product Placement in TV

Recoil

Recoil

Regular
Well, with watching some of the new series on TV this season, its time to get inundated with Corporate America placing advertisements in said TV shows:

Apple iPhone: So far at least two new shows have gone out of their way to show the characters in the show using the iPhone that I have seen. Journeyman (decent show) did, as did Moonlight (not so decent show from what I could tell). Moonlight even zoomed in on one of the characters using her fingers to zoom something. Nothing like getting people to say "Hey, wow! Look at what that phone can do! I want one!" Now I'll grant you, I do actually have an iPhone, and yes, it IS that cool. But still, I don't like seeing such blatant placement and use of it when I'm trying to watch TV.

Nissan Rogue: This one was by far the most annoying thus far. In the premier of Heroes, Mr Bennett gives Clare a new car. Her response: "NO WAY! The ROGUE!" Man, no one talks like that --- at least not about that kind of car. See giving a car to a teenage girl and having her be excited about it is one thing, but having her blurt out the name to the viewers is really stretching the imagination. This is almost as bad as a scene in Alias in its second to last season. Sydney and Vaughn were being chased through a parking garage, and Sydney goes "Quick! Into the F-150!" Cause yea, when you are being chased by killers, you don't say "Get into that Truck" you actually happen to know which model number the truck is, and then use it to describe it.

I can only wait for 24 to premier next year to have someone say "Transfer the call to the Cisco IP Phone" or "I'll take that conference call on the Cisco" (which is what they said, but really makes no sense grammatically)

Any other examples that you guys have seen this year?
 
Heh, yea, I've seen that site. Its pretty weak though. I gotta admit, the iPhone is really damn cool. And it doesnt matter than its missing some features that people might consider obvious (like MMS), as that stuff can and will get added in at some point. Its just hands-down the best phone interface I've ever seen, and it really does a better job than any phone I've ever seen at integrating all off these features together. Like many Apple products, including their OS, it really is all about the interface.

Look at it another way. Cell phone companies these days are in a big contest to see who can come out with the longest list of features....that 90% of the owners will never use. Some won't use them because they aren't practical, but many simply because they will never figure out HOW to use them. Apple really did take a step back and made a statement that while they are making a product for feature-hungry users (outlook contact management, email, music, video, web browsing, etc....) they are also making a phone that makes it far easier for Joe-citizen to use. It doesn't come with a manual, and really doesn't need much of one. It makes it so easy to do things like linking calls, 3 way calling, and many other features SO MANY cell phone users say "man, I don't know how to call another person with you on the line...so hang up and call me back and you do the 3-way conference." Seriously, how many times have you heard that? I hear it all the time. Phone companies spend so much time trying to add crap you will never use, but don't make basic functions easier.

So yea, I think its pretty bad-ass. By far the coolest new toy I've gotten in recent memory. :)
 
I noticed the product placement too, especially during The Dead Zone.
The 2 eps I noticed it in where for the same thing, Visa.
In one ep they make a big deal out of the fact that Jonny can take his Visa card and just pass it over the machine and it will pay for the stuff he bought.
The other ep had Stillson doing the same thing. They even managed to show the card right side up so you could clearly see the Visa logo...then a close up of the machine and the card as he passed it over it.
 
Subtle product placement can really make a movie "feel more real". But only if it's done correctly, and very understated.

This is rather in-your-face advertising. Man, isn't it bad enough we have to watch commercials in some theaters before the movie, now? I do hope some of that crap can get left behind while watching a good movie.

Just my 2 cents here.
 
All this product placement reminds me of that one scene in the original "Wayne's World" movie when they talk about selling out. Funny that had it pegged so well so many years ago...
 
Product placement sucks so much. In the UK we actually have laws against it, even on commercial TV. Shows can be sponsored by a company, which means the get a special ad a the beginning of the show, but that is it. This only applies to home grown TV, obviously.

It ruins movies too. The last Bond, which was awesome had promos everywhere, it really impacted on the 'real world' feel they wanted to get.

Glad you are loving the iPhone, I will wait until they get to 3G speeds here in the UK.

I think an ex-colleague summed it up with a story about his dad wanting to set up his mobile's email client, on a Motorola. No-one in the shop could figure it out. He downloaded instructions from the web, which came in at over 60 steps. The mobile industry really does need a kick up the arse on this.

My other half wants an iPod Touch, which I keep telling her is just a lobotomised iPhone. May get a new Nano though.
 
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If product placement could take the place of ad breaks and wouldn't be too intrusivce, I'd be all for it. But that's the thing, to make it a proper advertisment, they tend to be intrusive.

I actually thought the Nissan Micra product placement in Heroes (which I think Recoil had major issues with) wasn't too intrusive as I felt that Hiro would be wanting to repeat everything in the comic exactly and is a very excitable indivudal.

Product placement within computer gmaes has started now as well. I actually welcome this in some games (You can't really have a realistic formula one racing game without hoardes of advertising - that's the best example I can think of right now:)), but I wonder how that would be done in a fantasy setting without spoling the immersive feel of the game.
 
I might become a little annoyed with, "into the F150", but the rest of it really doesn't bother me. When I see the actors using a specific product in a scene, a box sitting on the counter kind of thing, :DI just blow it off! As long as they don't hammer me over the head with it, it's not generally a big deal to me.
 
I love the film Unbreakable... and I like Tropicana orange juice.

However it really niggles me that there is a stonking great big carton of the stuff in full view of the camera for pretty much the whole of one scene towards the end.
 
I have had long discussions with a friend on this, with the main question being. How are companies going to continue getting advertising revenue from Television, when truly, the commercial is dying?

What I mean by that, between broadcasters putting up shows online, PVRs/Tivo and torrent/downloads, commercials are being seen less and less.

So, active product placement is, unfortunately in some cases, the way they are going to have to go.

Though, just think, in 20 years, when watching some of these shows ... man, is it going to be funny.

S.
 
darth_librarian said:
Product placement sucks so much. In the UK we actually have laws against it, even on commercial TV. Shows can be sponsored by a company, which means the get a special ad a the beginning of the show, but that is it. This only applies to home grown TV, obviously.
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Watch "American Idle" on British tv. The make of cola on the judges table is censored out. It must cost them a fortune in special effects.
 
Sometimes in a movie or TV show you'll see a character drinking a soda or beer, and it's at this Picasso-like, old-school side-scrolling video game angle so that you can see both the product label and the character's fake enjoyment of said product.
 
I always liked that old Emilio Estevez movie Repo Man where they are all drinking beer. You can clearly see the can but it is a generic white can with black block labeling that says simply "BEER".
 
KoshFan said:
I always remember the product placement in "The Truman Show."
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Mmmmm tastes like Kaiser chicken. Funny I was thinking of the Truman Show myself.

Sometimes I wish they'd been a bit daring and attempted to trick genuine companies into having their products placed - not just to lampoon the cynicism behind corporate sponsorship... but to call it out and give it a direct smack aside the chops.
 
Is it odd that I pay more attention to a label or package that I don't recognize? I find that I'll consciously look at those longer (so that I can see the name they made up or what it's supposed to be in general) while a Coke can will just blow right past me. Maybe that's why it doesn't bug me as much???
 
Product placement (and advertising in general) annoys me so much that I'm actually less likely to buy their product later on. I can admire a well-constructed ad, but it almost never actually affects my purchasing.

Hot women selling products also backfire, because I pay a lot of attention until I realize they aren't actually trying to advertise the girl.
 
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