Also noted, Sheldon’s t-shirts are exclusively DC characters.
I worked for a company that made office phones back when everyone was switching from old PBX phones to new VOIP ones. We would get a company email to watch for our phones in next week’s episode.
I think one of the shows was The West Wing. Rewatching the series now I get a kick out of the constant revolving door of phone systems each week as every competitor in the market would sponsor them.
Along similar lines, in the later seasons of Monk Natalie had a different car every season, obviously because each season a different car brand was sponsoring them.
Nobody’s thought to mention the awkward product placement of Starbucks on Game of Thrones.
Odd, that.
I think this one wins the thread.
The movie Josie and the Pussycats parodied over-the-top product placement. Some people said it was hypocritical because parodies of product placement are also a form of product placement. But the people who made the movie pointed out they hadn’t asked for or received any payment from any of the companies, which I feel is a legitimate defense.
The series Chuck, for the first season or two anyway, frequently showed someone eating a sandwich wrapped very visibly in Subway paper etc.
Warehouse 13, for a season or so, frequently had a very visible display of Twizzlers, one of those bins with individually wrapped pieces that a character would absentmindedly grab and start eating. Neither of those were too obtrusive.
Bones, on the other hand, had some VERY obvious placement scenes for Toyota, like where two characters are driving somewhere and one announces “see, it even keeps me from crossing the center line”. She proceeds to demonstrate, gets pulled over by a country sheriff, and they spend the weekend in jail.
The Glades had some obvious Kia placement as well, though none QUITE as bad as that one Toyota scene.
The 80s Sly Stallone action film Cobra has the weirdest product placement ever. Cobra lives next to a prominent Pepsi billboard that’s practically an establishing shot, but at one point he goes into a diner and starts drinking Coke with the label pointed at the camera at all times. And then they go to another diner and there’s a giant sign for RC Cola in the background.
So either they all paid or nobody paid, it’s just all so odd.
Guys and gals, does that fake-assed looking dragon that appeared during the Yankees game last night qualify for this thread? Absolutely awkward, no doubt about it:
If it was in the lineup, then yes. As a flyby, I say no.
Dragons. How original.
Text me if it starts eating pinstripes. That I’d like to see.
I thought you sucked up pinstripes like spaghetti.
in Sienfeld, they brought in J.Peterman as a recurring character and had Elaine working for him.
I always thought this was the worst thing that they could do - since the company catalogue is based on a ‘mystique’ of adventure - you don’t lampoon that and make it obvious how fake it is.
Note - I worked for J.Peterman and knew the Petermans personally.
Warehouse 13 had some Toyota product placement, too. For the first two seasons or so, Claudia drove a classic Chevy El Camino. Then at the beginning of season 3 she suddenly has a new Prius, and is telling everyone else how awesome it is.
Who is the Yankees’ Seeker?
I don’t know about the BBT, but the creators of Seinfeld have claimed that they didn’t take money to feature any of the many brand name products used in the show (Jujy fruits, Junior Mints, Snapple, Saab, etc…) They just used whatever sounded funny, and to be fair, the Jujy fruits scene is funnier than it would have been with a made up candy.
We’ll agree to disagree - I agree it was not your normal ‘product placement’ in the most technical sense - but it was an actual product (or source of products) that would be recognizable.
Kenny Rogers Roaster’s in Seinfeld definitely smacks of product placement though, the episode aired right when the franchise was expanding hard (in 1996, prior to it’s 1998 bankruptcy) and you didn’t need the product at all, it could have been ANYTHING with an annoying neon sign.