Product Placement in TV Episodes

[well he's back]

I’m used to blatant produce placement in movies. But I’d never noticed it much before last night in TV episodes. In "Elementary", Sherlock makes a big flourish of opening his new Microsoft Surface Tablet, clicking & attaching the keyboard and searching using Microsoft’s new Windows version. Ridiculous. Took any sentient being completely out of the story. I hope they were paid well. They lost this viewer.

I'm sure this has been going on for a long time & it had to be this blatant & egregious for me to notice.

Any thoughts?

[zeldarae]

I noticed this same product being placed in Suburgatory the other night. In fact her story line centered on how she was filling her empty time with reading her tablet, of which they went to great pains to demonstrate the detatchable keyboard. If they would not have had so many commercials for it I don't think it would have bothered me so much.

[RobDog]

Yes I'm sure I'm noticing it more now too.

I don't have a huge problem with it in principle, but when it jars me out of the story it is annoying.

Example I can think of is when characters carefully swig from a can of drink making sure to hold it in a really odd way so as not to obscure the logo.

Or maybe I'm just confusing everything with that Wayne's World product placement bit.

[RobDog]

Just thought... didn't 50s American TV shows have the characters break right out of the story and do a full-on endorsement of some product or other, and then go straight back to the story? Or am I dreaming that?

[hajario]

So many people have DVRs and skip through the regular commercials and they also "need" to see what is being advertised.

[Dewey Finn]

On Hawaii Five-0, the characters drive Chevys (and there's a commercial during the show mentioning the brand's association with the show) and they prominently use Microsoft phones, tablets and a table-top Microsoft Surface computer in their headquarters.

I think the American version of The Office had a product placement deal with Chili's Restaurants (where the gang went for the Dundies Awards) and Staples (one of the characters used a Staples-brand shredder in one scene shown in the opening credits). And you can see that they're using Cisco VOIP phones and HP computers.

But the worst, most blatant example of product placement I can think of is during Burn Notice, when Michael Westen's narration mentions (paraphrased, as I can't remember the exact text) that in a chase situation, it helps to have a vehicle with good acceleration and rear-wheel drive, as the camera tightly focuses on the Hyundai logo on the back of the car.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by RobDog

Just thought... didn't 50s American TV shows have the characters break right out of the story and do a full-on endorsement of some product or other, and then go straight back to the story? Or am I dreaming that?

Yes, TV and radio shows often had corporate sponsors (sometimes the show was even named after them), and those sponsors were plugged on the show instead of or in addition to having independent commercials shown during breaks in the program.

[Jophiel]

When I catch a "How I Met Your Mother" rerun, I spend more time waiting for the obligatory Safe Auto insurance logo than actually paying attention to the show.

My wife and I just make a game of calling the placements out:
*Detective pulls out cell phone, showing logo...*
"Buy Samsung!!"

[hogarth]

I know "30 Rock" has had a number of product placements that I didn't find too offensive. Here's an article talking about it, although I don't remember the Kraft Singles bit.

[KneadToKnow]

What would have become of Eureka if that antiperspirant hadn't bailed them out?

Or Subaru?

[randwill]

Some old shows filmed commercials with the actors in character on the shows' sets enjoying the sponsor's products. These would air during the breaks in the show itself. Some that come to mind are cereal commercials with the "The Andy Griffith Show" folks and cigarette commercials with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. I also remember cigarette ads with Lucy and Desi and, most interestingly, Fred and Wilma of the "The Flinstones".

This one seems created to air at the end of a particular episode of TAGS as it features characters, the little old ladies, who only appeared in that one episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuHQk3A3RAI

[Mr Downtown]

I don't watch very much network TV any more, but the first place I found it really blatant was in Modern Family. Every episode will have some of them in their Toyotas—sometimes discussing the car's features—and episodes have revolved around trips to a particular resort hotel in Hawai'i on Continental Airlines, and Phil's lust for an iPad. To me, that's a lot different from every car in Mayberry being a Ford.

[Shakes]

You want to know what's really weird?

Big Bang Theory. They drink this stuff called "Cola" It looks exactly like a Coke can only except it's not Coke. WTF?

I assume they do this because they don't want to give away any free product placements. But why the hell would you go through the trouble of making your faux soda look exactly like a Coke can? Thus giving most unobservant people the impression they are drinking Coke anyway? (And unwittingly giving Coke a free plug)

The mind boggles.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Shakes

But why the hell would you go through the trouble of making your faux soda look exactly like a Coke can?

Maybe I'm being whooshed, but that's been done on TV for decades.

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I don't watch very much network TV any more, but the first place I found it really blatant was in Modern Family. Every episode will have some of them in their Toyotas—sometimes discussing the car's features—and episodes have revolved around trips to a particular resort hotel in Hawai'i on Continental Airlines, and Phil's lust for an iPad. To me, that's a lot different from every car in Mayberry being a Ford.

Eh. I'd rather have this then have Phil wanting to by a MyPad. Fake names of real products take you out of the story immediately, as if they are saying "What you are watching is fake and takes place in a fake world! This is a TV show!"


Now when it's clearly added in just to be an ad, like they did with a car on one terrible episode of Bones, and currently on episodes of Shark Tank, then it's off-putting.

[RobDog]

Originally Posted by randwill

Some old shows filmed commercials with the actors in character on the shows' sets enjoying the sponsor's products. These would air during the breaks in the show itself. Some that come to mind are cereal commercials with the "The Andy Griffith Show" folks and cigarette commercials with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. I also remember cigarette ads with Lucy and Desi and, most interestingly, Fred and Wilma of the "The Flinstones".

This one seems created to air at the end of a particular episode of TAGS as it features characters, the little old ladies, who only appeared in that one episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuHQk3A3RAI

To me that seems quaint and charming, compared to the modern embedding technique which seems cynical and manipulative. They should go back to that. I'm thinking maybe Jack Bauer breaking out of interrogating a suspected terrorist:

"Tough, sticky blood stains? I use JIZZ brand washing flakes. JIZZ, for all your washing needs. Use JIZZ, or I will break you like a stick".

(Background: terrorist beams and gives two thumbs up... interrogation resumes.)

[Rubixcube]

Most blatant one I can think of was the Bones episode where they shilled Avatar. The characters stared in awestruck amazement at clips from the trailer and exclaimed that it was going to be "so much more than a movie" before three of them go to camp out for good seats. I seem to remember it be a pretty crappy mystery too. It annoyed me because it wasn't simply an awkward mention or a lingering shot on a logo, it was an entire subplot made purely as an advertisement.

[Kimballkid]

The most extraordinarily blatant bit of product placement I think I've seen was on Pawn Stars when they plugged Subway constantly. They even made it part of their little office bets.

[Max Torque]

Most blatant I've seen has gotta be Chuck. For no reason, they would stop in the middle of the show and wax eloquent about Subway sandwiches, going ingredient by ingredient. It took several minutes.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Eyebrows 0f Doom

Eh. I'd rather have this then have Phil wanting to by a MyPad. Fake names of real products take you out of the story immediately, as if they are saying "What you are watching is fake and takes place in a fake world! This is a TV show!"

One of the funniest of those, I feel, is iCarly. Instead of Apple Computer products, they have "Pear" everything. PearPads, PearPhones, PearBooks. And the pear-shaped phones are so ridiculously-impractical looking that it's downright comical.

[April R]

Make a drinking game out of it and relax.

[Inner Stickler]

Originally Posted by April R

Make a drinking game out of it and relax.

This. I mean, as fulfilling as your appreciation for well-crafted tv is, it's not edible.

[Shakes]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

Maybe I'm being whooshed, but that's been done on TV for decades.

Not a whoosh. I'm just late to the party I guess.

I just recently got a 55" HDTV. So guess that shines a spotlight on things that weren't completely obvious to me before.

[leahcim]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Yes, TV and radio shows often had corporate sponsors (sometimes the show was even named after them)

Or in the case of Soap Operas, the genre as a whole was named after them.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by well he's back

I’m used to blatant produce placement in movies. But I’d never noticed it much before last night in TV episodes. In "Elementary", Sherlock makes a big flourish of opening his new Microsoft Surface Tablet, clicking & attaching the keyboard and searching using Microsoft’s new Windows version. Ridiculous. Took any sentient being completely out of the story. I hope they were paid well. They lost this viewer.

I'm sure this has been going on for a long time & it had to be this blatant & egregious for me to notice.

Any thoughts?

Actually, it hasn't. Believe me, I would have noticed--the spouse works for Apple, so we definitely notice the Apple products in the show (there have been a lot of them--Sherlock prominently uses an iPhone and an iMac, but they're in the background. As far as I know, Apple doesn't pay for product placements--or at least they didn't used to. Producers just like using them in the show.) Having Sherlock whipping out his Surface, doing that cutesy little "click" thing with the kickstand, and making a show of attaching his bright red keyboard just pissed me off. Not that he was using the Surface, but that he made such a *big deal* out of using it.

They didn't lose me as a viewer--I still like the show--but my respect for Sherlock went down a few notches. Nothing against folks who like the Surface, but I'm pretty sure most people who show a marked affinity for Apple products (as Sherlock seems to) wouldn't buy a Surface. It would have been more realistic to have him use an Android tablet instead.

[RandMcnally]

Originally Posted by Max Torque

One of the funniest of those, I feel, is iCarly. Instead of Apple Computer products, they have "Pear" everything. PearPads, PearPhones, PearBooks. And the pear-shaped phones are so ridiculously-impractical looking that it's downright comical.

For some reasons, I think those are hilarious. Each brand has it's own take off a real brand. Here's the entire list.



I can't find the link right now, but I think it was Hawaii Five-O that practically did a subway commercial during the episode. Found it.

[Bone]

Originally Posted by Max Torque

Most blatant I've seen has gotta be Chuck. For no reason, they would stop in the middle of the show and wax eloquent about Subway sandwiches, going ingredient by ingredient. It took several minutes.

I was fine with the blatantness of Chuck. The show was on the bubble of being canceled perpetually and the team pretty much acknowledged that without the product placement they would have surely not been able to continue. I think the obviousness of it was part of the joke.

Survivor is the same way, everyone knows it's blatant product placement but it's what keeps the lights on.

[friedo]

Originally Posted by Shakes

You want to know what's really weird?

Big Bang Theory. They drink this stuff called "Cola" It looks exactly like a Coke can only except it's not Coke. WTF?

I assume they do this because they don't want to give away any free product placements. But why the hell would you go through the trouble of making your faux soda look exactly like a Coke can? Thus giving most unobservant people the impression they are drinking Coke anyway? (And unwittingly giving Coke a free plug)

The mind boggles.

You can buy those brand lookalikes from any theater prop company. It's not like they're putting a lot of effort into it.

[Quimby]

The episode of Suburgatory mentioned above actually seemed to go out of its way to not mention the exact tablet she was using. I assumed it was because they did not get any product placement.

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by Dewey Finn

I think the American version of The Office had a product placement deal with Chili's Restaurants (where the gang went for the Dundies Awards) and Staples (one of the characters used a Staples-brand shredder in one scene shown in the opening credits).

The sponsorship which Staples has with "The Office" extends to Staples selling Dunder Mifflin brand copy paper.

[hogarth]

How about the "30 Rock" product placement for the movie "Hot Tub Time Machine"?

Liz: I'm sorry. You have a problem with the science of Hot Tub Time Machine?
Wesley Snipes: Yeah, not the time travel. It's the hot tub. You don't just turn one on and it's immediately hot. I should know, I've been in a hot tub two times.

[Ibn Warraq]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

Maybe I'm being whooshed, but that's been done on TV for decades.

Agreed. That's along the same lines as people at a bar ordering "a beer."

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Yes, TV and radio shows often had corporate sponsors (sometimes the show was even named after them), and those sponsors were plugged on the show instead of or in addition to having independent commercials shown during breaks in the program.

That was more common in radio than TV. TV game shows usually had the name of the sponsor prominently listed throughout the show, but dramatic/comedy shows didn't.

[Khadaji]

It always makes me chuckle if I notice it. It doesn't bother me.

[Morbo]

Remember Heroes? "Nissan Versa! Nissan Versa!"

As for the "not really a product", the winner has to be Dexter. If you look closely, it's clear they have someone mocking up UI for their computers and iPhones. It's not the Mac OS, but it's close. I spend those scenes looking at the fake UI and wondering why they bothered.

[DigitalC]

Chuck was running on fumes for most of its lifetime, i think they kept going by constantly shelling for subway. I miss Chuck

[alphaboi867]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I don't watch very much network TV any more, but the first place I found it really blatant was in Modern Family. Every episode will have some of them in their Toyotas—sometimes discussing the car's features—and episodes have revolved around trips to a particular resort hotel in Hawai'i on Continental Airlines, and Phil's lust for an iPad. To me, that's a lot different from every car in Mayberry being a Ford.

Don't forget the Christmas episode where Claire & Haley spent at Target.

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by RobDog

Just thought... didn't 50s American TV shows have the characters break right out of the story and do a full-on endorsement of some product or other, and then go straight back to the story? Or am I dreaming that?

I have a multi-DVD set of old TV commercials, and it has lots of examples of that. It stopped when sponsors stopped buying entire shows - you can see product logos on the closing credits of some of them.

And yes the reason for this coming back is for advertisers to force you to see the products in a way that you can't fast forward through. Though I fast forward through most shows, fast enough that I don't even see them.

The Adventures of Pete and Pete dealt with this by having all product be made by the Kreb company. Krebstar flashlights, cans of Creamed Corn had the Kreb label, and there were even KrebScouts.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

There was an episode of Royal Pains, just after HP released their ill-fated tablet (TouchPad, IIRC), where the normally low-tech Hank suddenly had to use a tablet to get medical information. The logo was painfully obvious.

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

Originally Posted by Morbo

As for the "not really a product", the winner has to be Dexter. If you look closely, it's clear they have someone mocking up UI for their computers and iPhones. It's not the Mac OS, but it's close. I spend those scenes looking at the fake UI and wondering why they bothered.

Yes, that one bothers me. They even use the standard iPhone text alert sound, but then when Dexter types in CU, it's clearly a fake OS. It was really obvious in last week's episode.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Dewey Finn

I think the American version of The Office had a product placement deal with Chili's Restaurants (where the gang went for the Dundies Awards) and Staples (one of the characters used a Staples-brand shredder in one scene shown in the opening credits). And you can see that they're using Cisco VOIP phones and HP computers.

They also have a deal with the grocery store Wegmans. All of the food in the break room is Wegmans brand, which is actually ridiculously accurate for businesses located in the same city as a Wegmans.

[Peter Morris]

Several episodes of South Park seem like extended adverts for a particular product. There was the World Of Warcraft episode, and the Guitar Hero episode, where only positive things were said about the product. These were so different in tone from other episodes where various big companies are mocked mercilessly. Even the Cartman thinks he's a ghost episode, and others, has a plug for KFC, as opposed to a generic made up brand like Cheesy Poofs.

[Peremensoe]

Originally Posted by Peter Morris

Several episodes of South Park seem like extended adverts for a particular product. There was the World Of Warcraft episode, and the Guitar Hero episode, where only positive things were said about the product.

Really? I recall those episodes as merciless mockery of the players of those games.

[kunilou]

Today's product placements can't compare with those of the past. A classic example is The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. You can actually tell which season the episode is from by watching the product placement of that year's major sponsor.

Sponsor: Hotpoint Appliances. Watch for long scenes showing the kitchen range and refrigerator, washing and drying clothes, etc.

Sponsor: Kodak. Ozzie and Harriet take pictures of everything, at least once in every episode.

Sponsor: Coca Cola. You won't see them drinking a pitcher of iced tea.

[Dewey Finn]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

They also have a deal with the grocery store Wegmans. All of the food in the break room is Wegmans brand, which is actually ridiculously accurate for businesses located in the same city as a Wegmans.

I didn't know that, but now that I do, I don't object as it seems to add realism.

[DigitalC]

Originally Posted by Peter Morris

Several episodes of South Park seem like extended adverts for a particular product. There was the World Of Warcraft episode, and the Guitar Hero episode, where only positive things were said about the product. These were so different in tone from other episodes where various big companies are mocked mercilessly. Even the Cartman thinks he's a ghost episode, and others, has a plug for KFC, as opposed to a generic made up brand like Cheesy Poofs.

Southpark pictured warcraft players as complete no life losers, how the hell could that possibly be seen as endorsing the product?

[FordTaurusSHO94]

What was up with Seinfeld and Snapple? There are several times when someone is offered a Snapple, but it's always shot down with an insult like, "No thanks, too fruity." Is it product placement when they keep slamming the product?

[Peter Morris]

Originally Posted by DigitalC

Southpark pictured warcraft players as complete no life losers, how the hell could that possibly be seen as endorsing the product?

The villain of the episode, yes. The rest of them treated it as a really fun game.

[etv78]

Originally Posted by Voyager

I have a multi-DVD set of old TV commercials, and it has lots of examples of that. It stopped when sponsors stopped buying entire shows - you can see product logos on the closing credits of some of them. .

When did the change happen? (approx.)

[friedo]

Originally Posted by FordTaurusSHO94

What was up with Seinfeld and Snapple? There are several times when someone is offered a Snapple, but it's always shot down with an insult like, "No thanks, too fruity." Is it product placement when they keep slamming the product?

Seinfeld did that with a lot of products, mostly because they thought real products were funnier. According the Larry David they didn't do paid product placements.

[MyFootsZZZ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGx3PBdb4f8