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Intrusive Product Placement in Films

Started by JPA, September 24, 2010, 12:51:33 PM

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mycroft

Sugar Puffs still seem to be selling well in the 22nd century, at least according to Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.

Not so much intrusive, more rather amusing.

Icehaven

Not a film but I was wondering how the product placement works in Mad Men. They seem to mostly use real brands and products, many of which are still in business (eg Kodak, Lucky Strike, Coke, an oil company I can't recall, loads of booze companies), and they frequently use real ad campaigns too, obviously crediting them to Don or whoever else supposedly came up with them. I wonder if it's official paid for product placement or do they just use the brands knowing they'll likely be perfectly happy to be associated with an acclaimed programme? It's weird one, particularly as they suggest at one point that Lucky Strike is (or was in about 1962) part owned by a closeted alcoholic creep. Actually a lot of the clients are made to look pretty stupid.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: JPA on September 24, 2010, 12:51:33 PM...Will Smith: Converse Classics, circa 2004.

For the products to feature visually is one thing, but for them to then enter into the written script is ridiculous in its shamelessness. Obviously I exclude those instances where the brand name is used for comedic effect...

Heh, that still doesn't exclude the worst one I can think of, from the Eddie Murphy film Meet Dave.  If you haven't seen it, Murphy plays a human-sized/looking spaceship from another world, manned by dozens of tiny aliens (the captain of whom is also Murphy).  Cue standard "alien doesn't understand Earth culture" routines throughout film.

The product placement occurs when he walks into a clothing store called "Old Navy", where the greeter goes "Welcome to Old Navy", and he takes that as being the universal greeting that Earthlings give each other.  Aside from the next few minutes being a massive extended plug for the shop in question, he then proceeds to say "Welcome to Old Navy" to various people throughout the rest of the movie.

When I watched the film, I didn't actually realise this was a real clothing brand in the States, until I looked up the film after seeing it and saw various outraged comments about the whole film being one massive plug for the company.  I'm glad I didn't at the time, as it probably would have ruined what little enjoyment I got out of the movie in the first place.

mr. logic

Quote from: icehaven on September 27, 2010, 12:45:08 AM
Not a film but I was wondering how the product placement works in Mad Men. They seem to mostly use real brands and products, many of which are still in business (eg Kodak, Lucky Strike, Coke, an oil company I can't recall, loads of booze companies), and they frequently use real ad campaigns too, obviously crediting them to Don or whoever else supposedly came up with them. I wonder if it's official paid for product placement or do they just use the brands knowing they'll likely be perfectly happy to be associated with an acclaimed programme? It's weird one, particularly as they suggest at one point that Lucky Strike is (or was in about 1962) part owned by a closeted alcoholic creep. Actually a lot of the clients are made to look pretty stupid.

I remember somebody saying that they were paid by Kodak.  They did give that a real classy sell and the clients themselves were inoffensive enough.

Again on TV, 30 Rock joke about doing it, and that's understandable, but the fact that they then go on to do it anyway (The Sony HD one they done was shocking) makes it all the more annoying.  Mainly because I wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't flagged it in the first place.

Jemble Fred

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on September 26, 2010, 05:53:20 PM
Similarly, the Toy Story films are pretty much a big toy advert. Not surprising, as merchandising has been an integral part of family movies since Star Wars, but it's the first one I can remember in which some of the toys already existed before the film. They even have a scene in the first one in which Mr Potatohead and Rex talk about which companies made them.

Wasn't He-Man, the cartoon (and by extension, the movie) created purely to flog already existing toys?

NoSleep

I think the toys arrived at the same time, although it's possible the toys were already in the shops before the series was screened in the UK.

Transformers was the same (possibly the first). Teenage Mutant NInja Turtles was planned to become a line of toys from its outset as a comic book.

Key

My memory is probably exaggerating this but I seem to remember that there were a few instances in I, Robot where other characters comment on how smooth Will looks with his sneakers and continually ask him to repeat the name and model. Also isnt there a scene where Will manages to speedily evade some robots  on foot then turns and looks down the barrel of the lens and says 'Thanks Converse!'

Jemble Fred

It's news to me that Converse is a brand, I just thought it was a style of shoe. I'm always wearing converse, but I don't own any 'Converse'.

So if it was intended as product placement... it's failed.

Phil_A

Quote from: NoSleep on September 27, 2010, 11:32:17 AM
I think the toys arrived at the same time, although it's possible the toys were already in the shops before the series was screened in the UK.

The story goes that Mattel had licenced the Conan movies for a range of toys, but then realised Conan wasn't exactly age-appropriate for the kiddy market. So they simply changed the Conan figure's hair to blonde, and called him "He-Man" instead.

Quote
Transformers was the same (possibly the first). Teenage Mutant NInja Turtles was planned to become a line of toys from its outset as a comic book.

Well, not quite true. When TMNT started Eastman and Laird were just a couple of kids messing around doing Frank Miller parodies. I don't think they quite envisaged the marketing potential of their creation until it had been going for a couple of years.

JPA

Quote from: Jemble Fred on September 27, 2010, 11:48:38 AM
It's news to me that Converse is a brand, I just thought it was a style of shoe. I'm always wearing converse, but I don't own any 'Converse'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converse_(shoe_company)

Jemble Fred

Ah well there we go. Among the seven or so pairs of converse trainers I own, none of them are from that company. Hooray!

JPA

Well don't come crying to me when you're trying to run away from robots in the future and aren't wearing the official footwear.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Cohaagen on September 24, 2010, 06:05:32 PM
That said, the real benefactor from product placement in the Transformers movies is, of course, the US military and its suppliers. The amount of masturbatory hardware-worship is worse than a Tom Clancy novel, and that's saying something.

The amount of influence the US military have over hollywood is disturbing. Chasing that cash is almost certainly caused the biggest problem with the latest Terminator film (i.e. somehow the US military has survived the nuclear armageddon, and in fact is still flying jets and Ospreys[nb]These things. Not the bird, although it would have made about as much sense[/nb] around, and John Connor no longer freed humanity, he just went around telling everyone he was going to). Oh, it also meant the film looked like Transformers.

Surprised no one has mentioned the Blue Velvet product placement bit yet. I haven't watched it properly so I won't do it.

ThickAndCreamy

Quote from: JPA on September 27, 2010, 12:22:32 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converse_(shoe_company)
I knew Converse were a subsidiary of Nike but just found out that Umbro were too. So essentially England's football team is sponsored by Nike, wonderful! Quite amusing how it shows the true power of branding in that everyone treats Umbro as a poor, cheap company when it is essentially owned by the people who make 'higher quality' sportswear like Nike. Also just looking at more sportsbrands Reebok are owned by Adidas which I didn't know before, so the top 4 sportswear brands in the UK are essentially just two: Nike and Adidas.

Fucking brands, what a crock of shit.

Pepotamo1985

There's product placement for Burger King in Arrested Development, which is done in a very knowing and quite funny way - although it's still product placement I suppose. I just like it because Tobias yelps 'IT'S A WONDERFUL RESTAURANT' and the camera cuts back to the exterior of Burger King (which preceded the start of that brief scene) and the narrator says "it sure is".

Later on Barry Zuckercorn literally jumps the shark and says "I'm off to Burger King", which is fairly mental. Only Arrested Development could pull off a self-referential pejorative pop culture moment using the actor who popularised the phrase, and it actually have tons of relevance to the plot of that episode and the series as a whole. I miss AD, it was brain meltingly good.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force did an entire episode for Sprint Mobile, which ended with them being annoyed enough by the product to throw it into the fires of Hell. That's how to do it.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia always has people complaining about it. I don't even notice it.

One of the stars (writer/producer) blew off some steam on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Glenn_Howerton

QuotePeople used to bitch about shows using generic products. We get the RIGHTS to do a scene in Subway and people bitch about that. Ridiculous.

Would most folks rather us drink cans of beer that say "BEER" on it on Sunny or get paid by COORS to make a good show that people like.

I think it makes the show WORSE to drink generic beer and eat in generic restaurants. It screams fake.

As far as us selling out: we sold out the second we decided to do TV show. And now we're FINALLY getting paid to do it. I'm ok with that.

So shut the fuck about prod. placement. It's industry standard & it's not up to us anyway. Plus it keeps the show u all like on the air

One last thing. The vast majority of the time shows are begging for the RIGHT to use a product so they don't have to use generic shit.

They aren't getting paid DICK. They're just trying to make a better show.

I don't know why Coors would want to be associated with the gang getting drunk and doing stupid shit every week.

Cohaagen

Quote from: MojoJojo on September 27, 2010, 12:47:01 PM
The amount of influence the US military have over hollywood is disturbing. Chasing that cash is almost certainly caused the biggest problem with the latest Terminator film (i.e. somehow the US military has survived the nuclear armageddon, and in fact is still flying jets and Ospreys[nb]These things. Not the bird, although it would have made about as much sense[/nb] around, and John Connor no longer freed humanity, he just went around telling everyone he was going to). Oh, it also meant the film looked like Transformers.

On Transformers: the last one has the anti-Decepticon or whatever it is task force based on Diego Garcia, a British overseas territory (though this is never mentioned), which means that in amongst the tedious mid-shots of US Air Force guys sitting at terminals they were obliged to include a half-second shot of a Union Jack (almost completely obscured behind the Stars & Stripes, though) and have Matthew Marsden stand behind people not saying anything. The behind the scenes Pentagon influence is also the likely reason why the on-screen Americans seem to be able to defeat robots from outer space while their real-life counterparts are having difficulty against people with flip-flops and Lee-Enfields.

Black Hawk Down is another one that enjoyed very close "cooperation" with the Pentagon, the result being a shameless and unjust rewriting of actual events which almost completely excluded the brave Pakistani soldiers who actually ended up rescuing the thick fucking Yanks involved. If I remember correctly, one actor even spoke out against the film after release.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/aug/29/media.filmnews

Cambrian Times

Would any agree that Repo Man is the anti-product placement film?

small_world

There's a scene in the new Resident Evil 3D thing, where, shortly after being introduced to a set of new (cannon fodder) characters the amazingly beautiful Milla Jovovich thinks she recognises one of them. The new guy asks if she watches basketball, she doesn't. So he says something along the lines of, "Well maybe you have a good taste in wrist watches".... The camera then pans to a massive (untouched by the appocolypse) billboard poster for Tag Heur.
I was watching the movie while thinking of this thread.. And when this scene ran, I snorted loudly.

uncle_rico

Caught some of Men in Black II on one of the satelite channels the other week and there's an unbelievabley crass Mountain Dew product plug, where Rosario Dawson's character (who works at a pizza place) is told by her boss to carry the next crate of Mountain Dew out of the basement, which then cuts to a shot of her walking up the step ladder with crate in hands ; front of each can placed strategically in view of the camera.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Cambrian Times on September 28, 2010, 02:42:46 AM
Would any agree that Repo Man is the anti-product placement film?
That's an interesting one. There was no commercial sponsorship in the film, but one product that get prominent placement were tree-shaped car fresheners. A few characters are named after beers, such as Bud and Miller.

The products with generic labelling were a genuine no-brand range of products.

Famous Mortimer

Cox was trying to get sponsorship, as far as I can remember, and when it fell through at the last moment he used the generic brands for everything in a fit of pique - turns out it works rather well, happy accident and all that.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on September 30, 2010, 12:51:04 PM
Cox was trying to get sponsorship, as far as I can remember, and when it fell through at the last moment he used the generic brands for everything in a fit of pique - turns out it works rather well, happy accident and all that.
Pretty sure you're right on that.

SavageHedgehog

Bill Cosby's infamous Leonard Part 6 went pretty nuts with coke product placement, including a prominent vending machine in Leonard's personal gym for some reason, and a scene where he holds a coke bottle with the label showing to the camera right up against his face for a considerable period of time. It was a glass bottle too, so it would have actually been pretty hard for audience memebers to go out and buy it. Cosby was appearing in Coke adverts (including New Coke's launch) at the time.

chand

Quote from: Buchstansangur on September 26, 2010, 11:47:07 AM


Ha, Zool was crazy for product placement. On a similar note was "Global Gladiators", which was less product placement and more a balls-out McDonalds game.



The McDonalds logo is on-screen at all times, you're guided by Ronald McDonald, and instead of coins or tokens you collect golden arches.


Jemble Fred

Don't forget the Cool Spot 7 Up games, and the Chester Cheetah platformer. That was ace. Ish.

Plus those horrible Burger King Xbox Live games only came out a couple of years ago, so it still goes on...

Quote from: Jemble Fred on October 01, 2010, 12:40:37 PM
Don't forget the Cool Spot 7 Up games
Ooh, yes. I had a cool little Cool Spot die-cast(?) pin badge from Total! Nintendo Magazine when the game came out around 1993.

In the just-before-the-Internet-became-mainstream days (1997/8-ish) there were lots of very cheap CD-ROM games on the front of cereal packets and the like featuring stuff associated with the brands.

madhair60

Quote from: Jemble Fred on October 01, 2010, 12:40:37 PMthe Chester Cheetah platformer. That was ace. Ish.

There were two, and they were both mince.

Jemble Fred

Quote from: madhair60 on October 01, 2010, 01:57:07 PM
There were two, and they were both mince.

Nah, his great big nose made for such a massive target there were some great little challenges in there.