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.
Really? I recall those episodes as merciless mockery of the players of those games.
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.
I didn’t know that, but now that I do, I don’t object as it seems to add realism.
Southpark pictured warcraft players as complete no life losers, how the hell could that possibly be seen as endorsing the product?
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?
The villain of the episode, yes. The rest of them treated it as a really fun game.
When did the change happen? (approx.)
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.
Probably the first time I really noticed it was on Buffy (Apple).
They could do a pretty good job of it, though. I have a bunch of Jack Benny radio programs on mp3, and one of my favorites was when Lucky Strike cigarettes was still the sponsor. The running gag was Jack wasn’t happy with the Lucy Strike quartet’s performance on a prior show, and had stashed them in a closet to rehearse constantly until they got it right. Whenever someone left a scene they’d open the closet door by mistake and pick up the jingle at some random point.
Back in the late 1950’s. ABC had terrible ratings and couldn’t get their shows sponsored. Some sales genius came up with what they called a “magazine” structure where advertisers could spread commercials around the schedule rather than a single program. The idea caught on and within a few years none of the networks would even sell a show to a single sponsor anymore.
I never watched The Dead Zone when it aired but recently watched all the seasons on DVD. One episode had a Visa product placement so blatant it was like a slap in the face.
Somewhere between 1960 and 1965, I think. I’m sure I remember sponsored episodes of the Dick van Dyke show, but by Star Trek time ('66) it was gone. Shows might have gotten too expensive for one sponsor. I don’t remember characters doing ads though - that might have happened when I was too young to get it, but I have examples on my DVDs.
I actually think it’s worse when it’s trying to be NOT product placement. Like I remember episodes of Family Ties where they would be drinking something like “Pepi Cola” or some obviously Shasta variant and it was actually distracting.
My favorite “product placement” gag is in whatever “Killer Tomatoes” movie George Clooney was in. There was a point where a Corn Flakes box appeared out of nowhere and they stared and stared and stared at it. LOL.
It’s a difficult line to tread no? On the one hand overt product placement distracts the viewer and jars them out of the fictional universe, on the other hand having no recognizable products at all, or deliberately fake products, has the same effect.
I’m reminded of a trope about the UK TV soap Eastenders, set in a supposedly typical although fictional part of the East End of London called Walford. The thrust of the trope being that if it really was a typical part of East End London, the characters would be regularly talking about what was happening in… Eastenders.
On The Mod Squad, the hip young crew would blend into the subculture by driving around in new Ford station wagons.
Just watched the Elementary episode. Thought it was pretty innocuous as far as such things go. No mention of the product, no extolling some special attribute. Just using it in a way you’d actually use it. No less jarring than fake brands such as when on Law & Order they’d search something Friendbook or FaceJournal.
And if anybody is going to be a technology polyglot, Sherlock Holmes seems like a good candidate (but then we currently have iOS, Windows, and Android devices in active use in our home so that doesn’t seem so odd to me).