[Swprograms] OT: Product Placement

["William Martin" <wgmartin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This isn't SW, but is broadcast-related. Just something I found
remarkable:
I finally got around to watching my taped copy of Nov. 14th's
airing of the NBC TV show "Medium", and in it I found the most
elaborate example of "product placement" that I've ever noticed.

(For those not familiar with the concept, "product placement"
is embedding an ad inside a film or program by showing an item
or a logo prominently without it being essential to the story.
For example, if the characters drink beer, a "Budweiser" can
is clearly shown with the label obvious, as opposed to a generic
beer can or one with the label unreadable.)

In this program, near the beginning, the main characters
discuss that they'd like to go to a movie. The husband
holds up a newspaper with a full-page ad for the new
movie "Memoirs of a Geisha". They say "I've heard that
it's good -- let's go see that." They get to the theatre
and meet other characters who tell them "We just saw that,
it's really good, you'll love it." Then, guess what commercial
airs at the first commercial break in the program? An ad for
the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha"!

I'm used to the usual examples of product placement, with
a scene showing a specific brand of car or drink or even
clothing, with perhaps a brand name in the dialog. But to
make the product a specific subject of a scene, and to have
the characters discuss and explicitly praise it, hearkens back
to the old days when sponsors controlled the program content
and the host or star read the commercials and embedded them
inside the show (as in many old-radio variety or drama programs).
The nearest thing I can think of is the "Sex and the City" series
in which the characters extolled certain fashion items like shoes,
but there it seemed mainly for laughs. This was much more
of a specific sales pitch.

Anyone else notice anything similar in other recent programs?

73, Will


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