# Product Placement in TV Episodes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297 "2012-12-07T14:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/21 "2012-12-07T15:53:45Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/22 "2012-12-07T16:00:00Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/23 "2012-12-07T16:18:37Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/24 "2012-12-07T16:24:09Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/25 "2012-12-07T16:32:19Z")
> [@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](http://icarly.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_parodies) 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](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/a-commercial-sandwiched-between-lines-of-dialogue-on-hawaii-five-0/) it. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/26 "2012-12-07T16:39:42Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/27 "2012-12-07T16:54:19Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/28 "2012-12-07T17:05:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/29 "2012-12-07T17:19:09Z")
> [@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. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/30 "2012-12-07T17:33:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/31 "2012-12-07T17:37:46Z")
> [@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.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/32 "2012-12-07T17:41:27Z")
> [@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](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gR-vU44gd4) usually had the name of the sponsor prominently listed throughout the show, but dramatic/comedy shows didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/33 "2012-12-07T17:42:07Z")
It always makes me chuckle if I notice it. It doesn’t bother me. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/34 "2012-12-07T17:43:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/35 "2012-12-07T18:25:47Z")
Chuck was running on fumes for most of its lifetime, i think they kept going by constantly shelling for subway. I miss Chuck ☹ ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/36 "2012-12-07T18:45:43Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/37 "2012-12-07T21:13:15Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/38 "2012-12-07T21:55:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/39 "2012-12-07T22:44:40Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297/40 "2012-12-07T22:49:58Z")
> [@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. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-tv-episodes/643297.md?page=3)