While I'm definitely not the first to mention this phenomenom, nor, I am certain, will I be the last, I am starting to realize just how less and less subtle it is getting to be.
Indeed, the good folks at howstuffworks.com have
Let me give you an example. Take the movie
An aside: I have a BIG problem with this movie, which is this: If I had just spent the past three years slipping the sausage to Uma Thurman, there is no way in hell I would ever want those memories erased!
But I digress. We were talking about blatant product placement. The most obvious example comes about a half an hour into the movie. One of the chief bad guys is sitting at an outdoor cafe eating a piece of cherry pie. He holds up his wrist, looks at his watch, and we are treated to a three or four second close-up of a super-magnified
Now, mind you, this shot is totally unnecessary. All they had to show was the guy glancing quickly at his watch (it takes me about a half second to check the time on my watch--how long does it take you?) and then say the line that comes next. I have no idea how long it takes to edit a shot like that into a movie, but I'm sure it takes at least a couple of hours to set it up, shoot it, then splice it into the film. And if I know one thing about moviemaking, it's that time is money! I betcha, though, that the good folks that make K.C. watches compensated the filmmakers handsomely for this little piece of film footage.
Of course, there are several other examples of P.P. (a most appropriate anagram, if you ask me!) in the same movie--during a fight scene, Ben Affleck gets thrown up against a cooler full of Pepsi; he arrives at his lawyer's office in a
By far, however, the most ridiculous example of product placement in a movie that I've ever seen had to be in the movie
Well, Poindexter, I'll tell you! In one scene about midway through the movie, the female blacksmith travelling with the hero reveals a new set of armor she has made for him. And she proudly displays her own "special mark" that she stamped right on the breastplate: A Nike-style "Swoosh" (Or, as the irrepressible
Don't believe me? Just go to
If that doesn't convince you just how ridiculous it's getting, nothing will!
By the way, I never watch the credits of movies, but I'll just bet that somewhere near the end of the credits of A.K.T., in the "The producers wish to thank..." section, you'd probably see "Nike Corporation" or some such listed in that section. (If anybody's seen that, let me know with a comment.)
Product placement also occurs on just about every T.V. show. Witness the "commercial-free" presentation of Fox's
I realize that in today's age of VCR's, DVD's, DVR's, TiVo, and other commercial-killing devices, it is getting harder and harder for companies to get their products to be seen by consumers, but Jeebus! Do they have to be so obvious about it?
And movies and television shows aren't the only ones guilty of P.P.--the good folks at
(This, by the way, is the same Arnold who told Californians he was too rich to ever be beholden to the special interests. I guess he figured out what an expensive game politics can be pretty quickly.)
Of course, we have always known that politicians were whores for the big money interests, but few are so blatantly obvious about it...
Nor are our kids immune. Public schools, which often are strapped for cash due to low tax revenues and decreased federal funding (No Child Left Behind, my ass!), frequently enter into contracts with soft drink and junk food companies to provide vending machines with their products. This, of course, can lead to a host of health problems in children, such as diabetes and obesity. And, of course, this is just one example of the corporatization of our schools.
The most insidious thing about this form of advertising is just how subtle it all is. We're all affected by it, even if we're not aware of it on the conscious level. I'm not saying I'm going to go and buy a Kenneth Cole watch (I'm happy with my $10 Casio--it tells time, which is all I need) after seeing Paycheck, but I can't begin to count the number of times I've seen a character in a movie or TV show swig a bottle of Evian water and thought about how thirsty I was. Then again, maybe that's just 'cause it's some gorgeous woman drinking from the bottle.
Of course, think about what "Evian" spelled backwards is...
Look, I know I'm not the first person to lament about this situation, nor will I or should I be the last. But I wanted to add Voice in the Crowd to the growing chorus of voices calling for some P.P. restraint.
Here's a couple more organizations:
These are just some I found using a quick google search. I'm sure there are many more, and I encourage anyone who finds a good one to post a comment.
Meantime, keep an eye open for just how much P.P. you see in everyday media. I'll bet you'll be surprised!
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