# Why is everyone so mad at product placement **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602 "2010-07-13T22:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/41 "2010-07-14T15:04:18Z")
The Alton Brown/Kroger connection has a pretty twisted ending: while doing research for the “yogurt” episode and shopping for stuff at Kroger, AB was actually _stopped for shoplifting_. In his blog, he explained that he had picked up a package of donut holes and eaten a couple, then when picking up a six-pack of Tab had emptied his handbasket and repacked it, forgetting to put the opened donut hole box back in. He was escorted to the manager’s office and even handcuffed. They eventually let him go, after he paid for the box, was photographed, and given a criminal trespass warning from the store. After that, he decided to shoot the store scenes elsewhere. The blog’s gone, but you can find copies of the post with a search. Anyway, product placement. Worst examples that come to mind are the Xenadrine truck in **Terminator 3** , and the minutes-long Subway ad in the middle of an episode of NBC’s **Chuck**. That one was severe: the boss at the Buy More and Morgan basically stand there, staring at the sandwich, going over every single ingredient and how wonderful it all is. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/42 "2010-07-14T15:21:31Z")
What’s the point does anyone actually go buy Pepsi because Marty McFly drinks it? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/43 "2010-07-14T15:47:13Z")
The point isn’t to show that Marty McFly likes it. It’s to show that _Everybody_ likes it. It’s to make the product seem like an integral part of life. That to _not_ enjoy the product is unusual. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/44 "2010-07-14T16:08:44Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > I don’t know about Paula, but on _Good Eats_, the show often starts with AB shopping, and the caption says something like > > Kroger Foods > Alpharetta, GA > > So it’s definitely a brand placement. > > It’s almost silly, given that Kroger is in some smallish fraction of the US. I can’t imagine it does much good for them to plug Kroger on the West Coast. Actually, Kroger has at least a couple chains on the West Coast - FoodsCo, which is in Northern California (and possibly elsewhere) has Kroger generics, and they own Fred Meyers, although those have their own store brands. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/45 "2010-07-14T16:13:15Z")
The product placement that bugs me most is cigarettes. Apparently, everyone smokes. (Well, all the _cool_ people, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/46 "2010-07-14T16:23:24Z")
30 Rock had a couple funny placements in the past year or so and they’ve always had a winking meta acknowledgement about it. There was one where Jack took his girlfriend Selma Hayek to McDonalds for delicious frosties. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/47 "2010-07-14T16:27:11Z")
Regarding Macs in the movies/tv. Sometimes, I see a recognizable Mac, but with the logo blocked off with a Post-it note or something. Why do they do this? Don’t want to give free advertising to Apple? You can still tell it’s a Mac for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/48 "2010-07-14T16:40:35Z")
> [@runcible\_spoon](#): > > Actually, Kroger has at least a couple chains on the West Coast - FoodsCo, which is in Northern California (and possibly elsewhere) has Kroger generics, and they own Fred Meyers, although those have their own store brands. In Arizona, they’re called Fry’s (for whatever reason, they decided to have the logo look almost exactly like Fry’s Electronics, but Wikipedia claims there’s no connection). They still sell Kroger brand food, so the veneer is pretty thin. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/49 "2010-07-14T16:44:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The best product placement was in **return of the Killer Tomatoes** , the sequel to legendary “bad film” _Attack of the Killer Tomatoes_. where the actors claim that they have to accept product placement to pay for the film, which has run out of money. They use placement of actual products, not made-up brands. And George Clooney does some of the placement. Oh, no. > [@Dr. Strangelove](#): > > Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Colonel… that Coca-Cola machine. I want you to shoot the lock off it. There may be some change in there. > Colonel “Bat” Guano: That’s private property. > Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Colonel! Can you possibly imagine what is going to happen to you, your frame, outlook, way of life, and everything, when they learn that you have obstructed a telephone call to the President of the United States? Can you imagine? Shoot it off! Shoot! With a gun! That’s what the bullets are for, you twit! > Colonel “Bat” Guano: Okay. I’m gonna get your money for ya. But if you don’t get the President of the United States on that phone, you know what’s gonna happen to you? > Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: What? > Colonel “Bat” Guano: You’re gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company. I dunno if they paid for it, but that’s my mark for Best Product Placement. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/50 "2010-07-14T16:44:26Z")
on iCarly they make up fake names for everything computer-related and it ruins the realism. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/51 "2010-07-14T16:45:26Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > What’s the point > > does anyone actually go buy Pepsi because Marty McFly drinks it? Not consciously maybe, but advertisers are counting on people unknowingly preferring Pepsi. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/52 "2010-07-14T16:50:21Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Heroes: “Nissan Versa: Very good car!” Which wasn’t really quite as bad as the Nissan Rogue’s semi-starring part next season. > > That said, I don’t mind product placement, if it’s integral. The “Nissan Versa!” line actually fit Hiro, in some inexplicable searching-for-familiarity way. Yes, the “OMG you’re giving me the Nissan Rogue!” scene, bracketed by the same Nissan Rogue commercial in an episode where every commercial break began and ended with the same Nissan Rogue commercial, was a little much. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/53 "2010-07-14T16:53:16Z")
WAGging, but it seems like product placement (and most advertising) works better when the target isn’t familiar with the product niche. Soda is a weak example; nearly everyone’s already tried Coke and/or Pepsi, so folks are already familiar and can make their own choices. But a lot of people are still fairly new to computers and laptops specifically, so while they could educate themselves about the strengths and weaknesses of many brands and models of laptops, it’s far, far easier to think, “Well, Dell is a pretty common name. I see it everywhere. They can’t be _that_ bad if everyone’s using them.” ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/54 "2010-07-14T16:55:09Z")
The overmarketing is one of the reasons I no longer watch TV. If it’s overt in films I become irritated. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/55 "2010-07-14T16:55:16Z")
> [@](#): > > on iCarly they make up fake names for everything computer-related and it ruins the realism. Rex Stout made up most of the product names for his _Nero Wolfe_ series and used them consistently – The _Heron_ sedan The _Marley_ 0.38 The _Bermat_ locks and so on. Robert Goldsborough kept up the tradition when he extended the series (_Cherokee_ Cola) But the books and works of art that Stout shows Wolfe reading and commenting on were, by contrast, were real works. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/56 "2010-07-14T16:55:50Z")
I think part of it is the undue influence a product may have over a script. If you’re actually writing it into a plot, even for a weak joke, rather than just placing a Coke (as opposed to Pepsi) on the counter. Another issue is the availablity of the product over time. Unlike a commercial ad, this product will stay in the show for years or decades if it goes into reruns. This can make issues for local revenue ads. For instance, Jerry Seinfelds love of Snapple. Which is now owned by Dr Pepper. _Seinfeld_ never asked or received money for the product placements it did, but suppose other shows do. Would you like to Coke or Pepsi and taking an ad out for a Seinfeld episode where he’s offereing everyone a snapple? Advertisers usually don’t like to take out an ad to have an opposing product come up in the next ad. Or at least too soon. Plus it can horribly date something, if the brand goes out of business. I heard Maude talking about the Bomar Brain. Who remembers Bomar? Already we have two generations of people who can’t understand Lilly Tomlin’s Ernestine, and the phone company. Example: Ernestine: Hello is this Mr Nixon? Yes, well it has come to my attention you are ten days late in the payment of your phone bill. When may we expect payment. Ah…OK…I see, I understand Mr Nixon…Well…I see. Mr Nixon no need to take that tone…Ah ha…How would you like me to come over and rip every phone out of the White House. OK now we understand. I’ll have your payment by the end of the week. Or talking to Alexei Kosygin of the Soviet Union Ernestine: No Mr Kosygin, I’m not with the United States government. We’re much more powerful than that. We’re the PHONE company. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/57 "2010-07-14T17:02:44Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > What’s the point > > does anyone actually go buy Pepsi because Marty McFly drinks it? I dunno. In the 80s everybody went out and bought Ray Bans because Tom Cruise was wearing them on the Risky Business poster. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/58 "2010-07-14T17:03:26Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > It’s almost silly, given that Kroger is in some smallish fraction of the US. I can’t imagine it does much good for them to plug Kroger on the West Coast. Maybe indirectly: Kroger owns Fred Meyer, QFC, Food 4 Less, Cala Foods, Bell Market, and a bunch of other store chains that are ubiquitous on the West Coast. Most customers probably wouldn’t know that, but the “Kroger” labelled semi-generics are carried in them, so there’d be at least some brand recognition. People forget that, at least for TV shows, _viewers are not the customers_. Viewers of (US) commercial TV pay little or nothing for toward the development of the shows. _Advertisers are the customers_, and without them there would be no broadcast TV except PBS unless we went to a BBC-like television tax to pay for them. But advertisers are, in turn faced with the dilemma that viewers (who buy their products, thus giving them the money to advertise with) don’t like commercials. Viewers skip commercials, either with high-tech DVRs or the low-tech “leave the room and make a sandwich” methods. Hence, product placement. The same “viewers are not the customers” is why shows get cancelled based on ratings, not critical success or viewer popularity (except inasmuch as it gets reflected in said ratings). It’s not the television company’s direct goal to entertain viewers. The goal is to attract advertiser revenue–everything else is secondary. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/59 "2010-07-14T17:14:03Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > on iCarly they make up fake names for everything computer-related and it ruins the realism. Not just computer names. They have their own version of Starbucks. I think on one episode they even went to Mango Republic for clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602/60 "2010-07-14T17:28:47Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Not just computer names. They have their own version of Starbucks. I think on one episode they even went to Mango Republic for clothes. I’ve no idea if iCarly does this but there’s the tried-and-true “glowing pear” on a laptop to make it an Apple-but-not-an-Apple. I’ve seen it on TV and in comics (thankfully never noticed it in a film). Look people, just make it a laptop. I don’t need a glowing fruit image to comprehend that they’re not typing on a TV dinner tray. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-everyone-so-mad-at-product-placement/546602.md?page=4)