Product Placement Runs Wild in Top Films, TV
Are you irked by product placement in films and TV? I am.
Do we really have to watch American Idol’s Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson chug one more drink from cups emblazoned with the Coke logo?
One of this week’s top box office film hits is Disturbia. I haven’t seen it, but I know if I ever do, I will be treated to appearances by these products:
Apple, ASICS, Barnes & Noble, Bed, Bath & Beyond, BMW, Boost Mobile, Cascade, Coca-Cola, Elmers, Energizer, FADER, Fila, Ford, Ford Mustang, HDNet, Hefty, Hershey’s, Lexus, Mayflower, Nike, OxiClean, Palmolive, Panasonic, Philips, Red Bull, Safari, Sentinel Offender Services, Skippy, Sony PlayStation, Twinkies, Us magazine, Valspar, Volkswagen Beetle, Wonder Bread, Xbox, YouTube
Here’s a video that spoofs product placement in Spiderman 3.
Here’s a study on product placement on Seinfeld.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
These companies pay a whole lot of money to annoy the heck out of us. I always get a laugh out of the “out of time” placements sometimes ie: 60’s film with a 90’s product.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Wha tis also bad is product placement in books…Like Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire ofthe Vanities…it drove me crazy…
May 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
The advertisers involved with Spiderman may have gotten rooked. We saw it on Sunday as I can neither, as I sit here, think of a product placement I saw, nor recall thinking at any point in the movie “Ooh, product placement!” as I usually do.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Hey, I was watching a movie who’s basis is about a girl that had a baby in Walmart…if that’s not product placement I don’t know what is!
May 9th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
The video spoof was hilarious! Makes me want to play with my clients commercials – think they’d notice a viagra bottle next to the motorized scooters…?
Oh, and um…. I tagged you on a meme on my blog (said very quickly, as I duck the heck outta here).
May 9th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
To be honest, I basically tune out any well known product I see in a movie or on TV so companies are spending a whole lot of money on nothing as far as I’m concerned.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Product placement doesn’t bother me at all. I have it all over my house.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I don’t really take any notice.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:12 am
AI has so much overkill on their product placement that I do the opposite and don’t buy their product.
This comment should make some corporate shill want to run screaming down the halls.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I don’t pay much attention. If it keeps corporate image makers happy, then go for it. After all, it does contribute to verisimilitude (I have no idea how to spell that). During my days, I see products everywhere. I find it more strange when (I suppose no placement having been bought and paid for) a character in a film asks for “a beer.” I’ve never heard anyone ask for “a beer” (always and only people ask for a particular beer). Same with the descriptor (still in use afer all these years since Dragnet) of someone having gotten away in a “gray sedan.” I can’t recall the last time the word “sedan” crossed my lips or brain or ears, let alone one unconnected to a particular breed of car.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Gerry, it’s funny, I was so used to those nondescript descriptions of things in movies that I never questioned it.
May 10th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I think it really cheapens the look of production. There was a time we didn’t see them and we took the opportunity, when the commercials came on, to do something better than watch (like get the chips or call mom)