The best anti-product placement ever is in Repo Man, where everything comes in white cans with black text. Products include “Food” and “Beer.”
From what I’ve noticed, if it’s not a Mac, it tends to be a Dell.
I noticed this when I saw Iron Man; all times we saw the military guys working at their computers, they were Dells. That said, every time I’ve seen a computer since I enlisted 3 years ago, it’s been a Dell. I think they either got a contract of some sort or Dell offers some sweet deals on bulk purchases.
Re: the product placement in I, Robot. The shoes didn’t really stick with me, I just treated it as a sort of character-building “Suit-up” moment or something I guess, along with a sort of funny meta-joke. His classic shoes, dating back to 2004, which happens to be when we’re watching the movie.
That said, my friends and I joke that the FedEx robot was carrying a letter from Zephram Cochrane explaining everything that was going on, and how Will Smith’s character could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he didn’t just brush the robot off without accepting the package.
I don’t like product placement for 2 reasons. Firstly, I like to know when someone is trying to sell me something. Product placement in my opinion is akin to subliminal advertising. Secondly, I think that in some cases, product placement can compromise the integrity of a show.
One Australian show is currently going over the top with product placement. This link has an interesting analysis on product placement.
Bothers me less in TV shows, since even when its distracting I figure its paying for the show so I don’t have to. I’m actually surprised they don’t do more of it, considering that TiVO and pirating shows online or streaming them through netflix or Hulu with adblockers up has led to a lot of people avoiding commercials.
Movie ones annoy me more, because a) I paid to watch the movie, so advertising in general there seems a little more egregious and b) the ads seem more intrusive in films, for whatever reason. Maybe its because companies pay more for the movie product placements and so want them more “in your face”, or maybe its just because I watch a lot of sci-fi or fantasy movies while most TV shows I watch take place in “the real world”. Dexter opening a can of coke seems a lot less weird then when Captain Kirk makes a call on his iphone.
On of the funniest examples I remember if from the Stallone flick Demolition Man, where a long scene centers around the fact that Taco Bell is the only remaining restaurant available, due to having won the “Franchise Wars”.
Problem is that Taco Bell aren’t established outside of North America, so here in Europe all the signs have been (poorly) edited to Pizza Hut instead, as has all the dialogue been (laughably) dubbed over.
Alias, the tv show, had a very blatant case of product placement. The hero (Sidney) is driving a Ford Focus and chased by bad guys. Suddenly, in the middle of this intese chase, Sidney’s radio contact mentions how he’s looking to buy a new car and ask if the Ford’s good. Sidneys says the car’s great.
They sued a four year old girl! :eek:
I recently saw that Adam Sandler andn Jack Nicholson anger management film… forget what it’s called, but in a totally “heartfelt” streetscene throw away and focus on Adam Sandler, there are two “delivery” trucks for two sponsors in the slightly faded, yet expertly focused background.
I think it was beer and a softdrink. Doesn’t offend me so much as draws me out of the film.
Does corporate sponsorship of sporting events (NASCAR, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, etc.,) count? I’m not a fan of NASCAR myself, but I do appreciate good car design, and all the damned logos on the cars disguise their lines too much. And I think it’s pretty annoying to have a big Tostitos logo associated with a football game.
In regards to Macs; that’s something I’ve noticed for a while now; pretty much anytime a TV show or movie shows someone using a computer, it’s a Mac, and the Apple logo is usually prominent in at least one shot. I figure it’s a key part of their marketing strategy.
Well, I can tell you for sure that Alton Brown and Paula Deen don’t cover up their “generic affiliations” all so well, they use Kroger and Publix brand, respectively.The design is really discernable. Publix is reallly the best in the South, Kroger is the best of the North Central…
I was going to mention this as the worst example I can remember. The beginning of the movie was basically nothing but a commercial for the All Stars shoes and his stereo (I forget the brand). Never got into the movie after that.
It’s also interesting to note that in film, US Robotics is the main company producing robots. US Robotics is a well-known, real company that used to produce the best modems before network cards. When I first saw the film that was the most jarring to me, because I thought it was a blatant product placement. However, it’s actually the opposite: US Robotics named themselves after US Robots and Mechanical Men, which is the actual name of the company in Asimov’s books. The movie then used US Robotics in the film instead of the longer, clunkier name.
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.
Kyle XY had a craving for Sour Patch Kids, which was reasonable.
And Chuck has been relatively cleverly sponsored by Subway. Big Mike chows down on it regularly.
I LOL’d at US Robotics being in the movie, but only because I got the joke. It would seem like counter-productive product placement (unless someone like Netgear paid for it? :D)
I suppose the biggest problem with product placement is that if you notice it, it might very well draw you out of the movie, even if it does make sense that FedEx will still deliver packages in the future.
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.
And the scene in the restaurant where Brosnan presents her with a hugely expensive piece of jewelry in the BVLGARI box. With a conspicuous BVLGARI label on it. Next time I spend $750,000 on a necklace, that’s where I’m going.
Or maybe I’ll just buy the Pepsi.
Part of the problem of product placement is our awareness of it. Even if it’s natural for a character to sit on his front porch with a six pack of bud next to him, we now wonder if it’s there as advertising.
That’s what annoys me about product placement. It’s made us (justifiably) even more cynical.
As noted, it’s a question of how badly and blatantly it’s done.
back in the 1980s, Dr. Pepper started doing a series of ads that used a Godzilla-like creature wrecking a city. When Godzilla 1985 came out, they paid for product placement (for all I know, the Godzilla-like ad campaign may have been undertaken after the decision to back Godzilla 1985), and it’s hilariously bad. They show military officers drinking Dr. Pepper, with the labels ostentatiously turned toward the viewer. There’s Dr. Pepper machine in the military headquarters. There’s no way you could miss the artificiality of it.
On the other hand, Pepsi paid for placement in terminator 2. while they did the same things, it’s not as forced. I expect to see a Pepsi machine in the back corridors at a mall. And I’m not surprised at tech geeks drinking Pepsi.
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.
I think they quit doing that after the first season or two. I suspect it was probably Brown’s way of saying “thank you” for being allowed to turn the store into a set.
Was just gonna mention that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogId4kCae1A
this clip misses my favorite moment where clooney is enjoying a Pepsi and is in a swivel chair. As soon as he is dramatically spun to face another character he makes sure the Pepsi label remains turned towards the camera. Classic