# Bones: 4/28 Blatant Product Placement
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 30, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259 "2011-04-30T04:54:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/21 "2011-05-03T16:58:52Z")
Bones usually has one awkwardly hilarious bit of product placement per episode. The shoehorned-in dialog which praises the features of a Toyota brand car usually crack me up.
Although to be honest, if I had a car that parallel-parked itself, I’d probably have a similar conversation the first time I used it with passengers in the car. That’s pretty neat.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/22 "2011-05-03T23:48:33Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> You picked on Bones, but not the latest episode of Supernatural? That iPad got more screen-time than Eve did.
I don’t think it counts as product placement if you have a character bitch about how annoying the product is!
\<3 Bobby
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/23 "2011-05-04T00:09:10Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> Even _The Wire_ made us use the word “Verizon” like we were Smurfs. “We need to Verizon Verizon Verizon!” “Did you Verizon?” “Verizon!”
I see Grumpy Verizon is all verizony. Here. Have some verizon berries and calm down.
I would be curious to see what Belfry considers _dis_tasteful product placement! Because that Toyota Prius Intelligent Parking Assist ™ on Bones was the most blatant, awkward, ridiculous, obvious, stiff and fake product placement I have ever seen. I do appreciate them at least pretending to still be in character, though. Had they not added that, I would have honestly thought I was in a Toyota Prius Intelligent Parking Assist ™ advertising powerpoint meeting.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/24 "2011-05-04T00:47:23Z")
Believe it or not, my parents actually got a car that does the parallel parking thing… and they haven’t tried it! They’ve had the car for a month! That would be the first thing I did when I got home!
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### Author:  [@The\_Lovely\_Margo\_Lane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lovely_Margo_Lane)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/25 "2011-05-04T01:00:51Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> “I’m going to use my MOTOROLA FLIP-PHONE WITH GPS CAPABILITY to phone the office while we drive around in our 2.0 LITRE 150 HORSEPOWER FOUR-DOOR TOYOTA BLAHBLAH!” Oh well. The tv shows are the extras; tv is all about the advertising, and we had best not forget it (plus they won’t let us).
Last night’s _Castle_ had Castle and Beckett both simultaneously pulling out {some smartphone or another} after leaving an interview - Castle logged on to Netflix to watch a movie featuring a person of interest and Beckett using hers as an actual phone. It was blatant but I thought it actually fit pretty well with the ridiculosity of that show.
> [@jharvey963](#):
>
> They also did one for the Toyota Sienna. Angela and Daisy had to drive somewhere and it shows Daisy asking Angela why she had a Sienna, when something sportier would fit Angela’s personality better: wherein Angela praised the Sienna for being able to haul her artwork around.
>
> I think this one either last season, or the one before.
>
> J.
And a season before that she had a Matrix “We can all ride over there together if we take Angela’s Matrix” or some such. I noticed that at the time because I had been driving a Matrix zipcar and my boyfriend and I had a lot of fun with that as a silly car name. “Matrixxxxx!” Just like in _Commando_ 🙂
I can’t say it bothers me too much on this kind of show. If I wanted to take offense at something on Bones it would be the absolute rubbish technomagic handwaving or the lack of character consistency (Brennan) - and since none of that bugs me enough to stop enjoying the show, Toyota ads don’t really rate.
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### Author:  [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/26 "2011-05-05T00:14:30Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> I see Grumpy Verizon is all verizony. Here. Have some verizon berries and calm down.
>
> I would be curious to see what Belfry considers _dis_tasteful product placement! Because that Toyota Prius Intelligent Parking Assist ™ on Bones was the most blatant, awkward, ridiculous, obvious, stiff and fake product placement I have ever seen. I do appreciate them at least pretending to still be in character, though. Had they not added that, I would have honestly thought I was in a Toyota Prius Intelligent Parking Assist ™ advertising powerpoint meeting.
On the latest episode of Fringe, a non main character was driving a Ford Focus. He needed to back up in a hurry so he checked his back up camera. It was all clear, (we know this because the camera screen was twice the size as normal.) He backed up fast then came to an immediate stop. The camera was zoomed into the “Ford Focus” emblem right above the rear tire and stayed there a few seconds so even slow readers would know what kind of car it was.
Same episode:
Walter is talking about how the new fruit cups at the hospital (where his injured son is staying), are in their own juice instead of the sugary syrup that he’s use to. He doesn’t say they are Dole fruit cups, but there was a Dole commercial during the show featuring natural juice fruit cups.
I wouldn’t exactly call either of those _dis_tasteful but they were quite a bit more obvious than the one on Bones.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/27 "2011-05-05T00:50:00Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#):
>
> …Walter is talking about how the new fruit cups at the hospital (where his injured son is staying), are in their own juice instead of the sugary syrup that he’s use to. He doesn’t say they are Dole fruit cups, but there was a Dole commercial during the show featuring natural juice fruit cups…
Wow. Ok. That tops Bones.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/28 "2011-05-05T01:10:19Z")
Yeah, the “Fringe” ones are pretty obvious, too.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/29 "2011-05-05T21:06:53Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#):
>
> Walter is talking about how the new fruit cups at the hospital (where his injured son is staying), are in their own juice instead of the sugary syrup that he’s use to. He doesn’t say they are Dole fruit cups, but there was a Dole commercial during the show featuring natural juice fruit cups.
I didn’t see the Dole commercial (\<3 30 second skip function on DVR) but his fruit cup scene didn’t seem very product placementy to me. Just seemed like Walter being Walter. He’s very obsessed with his favorite foods and details like them being changed slightly are exactly the kind of thing he’d talk about.
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### Author:  [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/30 "2011-05-05T21:28:34Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> I didn’t see the Dole commercial (\<3 30 second skip function on DVR) but his fruit cup scene didn’t seem very product placementy to me. Just seemed like Walter being Walter. He’s very obsessed with his favorite foods and details like them being changed slightly are exactly the kind of thing he’d talk about.
Agreed. I didn’t think they were product placement either, just Walter being Walter.
Of course, it’s a little hard to miss the phone product placements in Fringe.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/31 "2011-05-05T23:46:27Z")
I’m just waiting for the day they start advertising cigarettes again.
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### Author:  [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/32 "2011-05-06T05:53:00Z")
> [@zoog](#):
>
> I’ve been seeing more and more of this kind of thing over the past few years, mostly on broadcast TV shows. I don’t watch Bones, but my wife does and I’ve seen bits and parts of it, and it seems like they’re constantly doing something like this. Chuck is pretty bad about it too. I guess that if we’re not going to watch the normal commercials, they’ve got to find some way to sell us crap.
I actually think Chuck handles their product placement very well. They do it in a very self-aware affair fashion and use it for humorous effect. One character will expound on his unnaturally strong affection for Subway or Toyota, and the other characters will sort of give him a weird look and say “Um…yeah, moving on.”
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/33 "2011-05-06T12:56:53Z")
The worst was in the first season of Babylon 5. When Garibaldi and Lenier rebuilt a 1992(?)Kawasaki Ninja. The opening teaser had more high pressure sales tactics than a used car lot and it had NOTHING to do with anything happening in the rest of the episode, but it was the B-plot for the episode.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/34 "2011-05-06T13:11:08Z")
Aw, I thought that was a sweet B-plot!
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/35 "2011-05-06T13:16:04Z")
And anyone who uses a regular desk phone has put a CISCO sticker on it for some unknown reason.
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### Author:  [@BobbyBoyJr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobbyBoyJr)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/36 "2012-08-31T17:28:37Z")
As it was in the 70’s with Ford, Toyota is now the “car” everyone drives on TV. The producers in the 70’s at least only took the cars. Now, with all the cable TV channels, and the DVR’s avoiding commercials, Toyota has become heavy handed with the all mighty dollar, or yen? Shows like Bones on Fox, and Royal Pains on USA Network are blatant Toyota Commercials. There are episodes of Bones, that are nearly unwatchable as the Toyota’s are the stars and every employee of the Smithsonian, and the FBI, all magically drive Toyota’s. It get’s so bad that they actually name the model’s and the functions of the vehicle’s while wasting story telling time to advertise the vehicle. It’s bad enough that an hour long program is 36 minutes of actual programming.
Now everyone who watches classic TV or was around to watch it back in the 60’s and 70’s watched mostly Fords. Starsky and Hutch made a gutless, boat of a Gran Torino, ( I own one, not a hater here) a superstar around the globe, especially in the UK. Charlie’s Angels all drove Fords, and the impact of that show made superstars of the 3 Angels. Ford Sales of Mustang II’s and that Orange Pinto spiked due to the show.
Back then it was just in the background of shots, but now it is awful, and I love cars. But I don’t need Bones, or Angela (Bones) telling me how good the Navigation is on their Prius or the rear view Camera on Angela’s Sienna, in real time! It goes on…
Now Art imitates life. With the Demise of the Police officer’s favorite ride, The Ford Crown Victoria, The Honolulu PD now has Toyota Camry’s in it’s fleet and some website advertising…The New Hawaii 5-0 all drive Chevy’s, they are shown prominently, at least Dano has not told us how many horsepower his Camaro SS has…yet! The pilot was shot with all Ford’s like the original 5-0, and was used to bring back the Mustang “5.0” as Dano’s ride. I guess the GM Money was way better than the Ford Money this go around.
What say you?
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/37 "2012-08-31T18:53:28Z")
This showed up in a _Warehouse 13_ episode recently, where Jinx and Artie borrowed Claudia’s Prius and on the way to stop an artifact Jinx had to extol the virtues of whatever the hell Toyota’s in-dash system is to Artie. The whole thing stuck out like a sore thumb.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/38 "2012-09-03T22:55:11Z")
Everyone always seems to have to take a minute to show their new car’s Pandora[sup]TM[/sup] connectivity, no matter how much of a hurry they are in.
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### Author:  [@sotaan848](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sotaan848)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/39 "2012-11-27T03:50:50Z")
The episode that was on tonight had another horrible one. If I had not been a fan of the series since the beginning, and this was the first episode I watched i would turn it off immediately.
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxllIHiins4)
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### Author:  [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bones-4-28-blatant-product-placement/580259/40 "2012-11-27T23:35:57Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#):
>
> The worst was in the first season of Babylon 5. When Garibaldi and Lenier rebuilt a 1992(?)Kawasaki Ninja. The opening teaser had more high pressure sales tactics than a used car lot and it had NOTHING to do with anything happening in the rest of the episode, but it was the B-plot for the episode.
That episode may be worse than Grey 17 is Missing, and that’s saying a lot.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKpa4xwVYZI)
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