It makes movies more realistic. If a laptop is just a laptop it gives more sense of realism if it is an apple or dell. I don't understand how product placement annoys people. Movies are based on life so a guy saying "give me a coke" is adding to the realness.

Besides, even movies without product placement have it hard to film without showing any brand name at all so it makes more sense to get paid for it and that money can go to a better movie and better industry. For example, its kind of hard to hide the make of car in a movie so you might as well let ford pay you a million bucks to give a focused shot on the emblem for a tenth of a second.

For people who hate product placement; tell me why it annoys you.

12/17/2007 9:53:17 PM

It just does.

12/17/2007 9:53:57 PM

i really don't mind it that much. i am legend sucked anyway, though.

12/17/2007 9:58:37 PM

It's only blatently obvious product plaement that bothers me. It always stands out seperate from the movie, like an interuption.

12/17/2007 10:05:56 PM

because often they are not subtle about it

12/17/2007 10:06:14 PM

12/17/2007 10:07:22 PM

like that one movie where the cars were only green vw bugs... i cant remember the movie

12/17/2007 10:11:21 PM

dude

remember demolition man

12/17/2007 10:12:56 PM

product placement has nothing to do with a logo just 'happening' to be in a scene, product placement is BLATANT shots meant only to purposely bring your attention to a specific brand of an item in the shot. when the complete purpose of an entire shot is to advertise a product that has nothing to do with the movie its rather annoying.

12/17/2007 10:13:08 PM

when everything is blurred out except the pepsi cans

12/17/2007 10:15:02 PM

Nuprin: Little, yellow, different.

12/17/2007 10:19:47 PM

Well you actually have it all wrong (in most cases)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3hOk80p8K2w

There are some examples of a brilliant product placements in spiderman. Thats how it is in all the big movies that people normally complain about.

12/17/2007 10:20:53 PM

^^embed please

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v7thSdlRhuM&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v7thSdlRhuM&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[Edited on December 17, 2007 at 10:34 PM. Reason : better/clearer video]

12/17/2007 10:32:41 PM

Quote :

"dude remember demolition man"

ahahahah

12/17/2007 10:37:32 PM

.... it's like people only do things to get paid. And that's just really sad.



speaking of sad, where the hell is Dana Carvey lately....

12/17/2007 10:40:02 PM

Quote :

"because often they are not subtle about it"

Exactly.

Also, it's insulting to the audience. You already paid for the ticket, now they want to double dip just because they have a captive audience?

If a director cares so little about the artistic integrity of his movie, the movie probably wasn't good anyway. Likewise, people who don't care about product placement have no taste.

12/17/2007 10:43:47 PM

I don't care. It is like complaining about the dancing candy...

I could care less if a coke sign is highlighted in a scene... doesn't affect the movie for me in the least - some of us tasteless people are able to just look past it and enjoy the show. It would suck to be someone who is really set on pointing out product placement and complaining about it... it is because of those people that we hear about it so much. Otherwise, it would be no big deal and those companies would be wasting their money.

12/17/2007 11:27:58 PM

^sheep.
consume your soma.

12/17/2007 11:31:55 PM

^don't kid yourself. She probably won't get the reference.

12/17/2007 11:49:52 PM

It doesn't bother me, I think it's like a scavenger hunt to find products placed in movies.

12/18/2007 12:04:45 AM

Quote :

"You already paid for the ticket, now they want to double dip"

exactly, if you're not making enough money with tickets, then just raise the price, i cant stand watching regular commercials before the previews start, and i cant stand product placement
those who dont mind have a warped mind and must like commercials

12/18/2007 12:13:50 AM

^ fuck that.

Tickets are high enough as is.

12/18/2007 12:45:29 AM

The only product placement scene that really bothers me is the one in I, Robot where Will Smith says something like "Screw these future shoes, I'm gonna wear my circa 2004 Converse All Stars".

12/18/2007 12:45:57 AM

As long as it doesn't take away from the movie, who cares?

12/18/2007 1:05:21 AM

anyone see I Am Legend?

Ford, Mac, McDonalds, Shrek (owned by Dreamworks).......coincidence? I think not! ($$$)

I am of the paradigm that it is possible to tell a story without blatant product placement.

12/18/2007 1:28:05 AM

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

12/18/2007 1:34:20 AM

I don't mind product placement per se, but I disagree with it when they are obviously exploiting the moment. i.e., If you focus on the Nokia logo on the cellphone for 2 seconds then you have sacrificed your integrity as an artist. I paid $7.50 to see a movie, not watch commercials.

12/18/2007 1:49:57 AM

meh, in the midst of paper writing, thus the dbag language is flowing right out of ze' skimmer!

12/18/2007 1:50:37 AM

12/18/2007 2:04:28 AM

yeahhh the dr. pepper can in that spiderman was completely natural and good. they couldn't have gotten the same point across with say, a generic glass or generic remote control.

especially bad were the cars in transformers, they would leave the camera on the front of a car for far too long to make sure we saw the spotless and shiny GMC logo.

12/18/2007 2:42:03 AM

^stfu, michael bay = andy warhol

12/18/2007 3:02:46 AM

lol

correction, michael bay = god

12/18/2007 5:42:06 AM

i also think it is hilarious when people point out cars in movies and bitch... cuz they would honestly bitch no matter what make is in the movie.

12/18/2007 6:28:31 AM

Quote :

"you might as well let ford pay you a million bucks to give a focused shot on the emblem for a tenth of a second. "

that isn't art. that is my main gripe with it. movies are art just like any media. you may not view them as an art form--you may simply go into the movie theatre looking to be entertained--and if that is the case i can understand why product placement doesn't offend you.

[Edited on December 18, 2007 at 7:23 AM. Reason : .]

12/18/2007 7:18:56 AM

transformers had tons of product placement and it all fit in very well. I see no reason to complain about it although everyone and their mothers bitched about Transformers use of real world products.

12/18/2007 7:55:50 AM

some movies you go into expecting art... some not so much.

12/18/2007 7:56:24 AM

^^ Back to the Future had a lot of PP for its time and I still enjoyed the movie, but compare it to some movies nowadays, like Fantastic Four, for instance. There was a scene in FF where the flaming torch crashes into a huge Burger King wall ad that had to be 20 feet tall, and the ad remains in frame over the course of the scene. Its kind of getting out of hand. I liked it better when it was just an empty pepsi can in the frame as marty reached to hit his alarm clock.

[Edited on December 18, 2007 at 8:11 AM. Reason : .]

12/18/2007 8:11:39 AM

subtlety is certainly the key here.

12/18/2007 8:15:41 AM

marlboro is all over superman II

it's kinda funny

12/18/2007 8:55:42 AM

It all depends on how it's integrated.

For instance, it worked rather well in the Fifth Element when the cops are chilling by the McD's window when he comes flying by like a bat out of hell.

12/18/2007 8:58:45 AM

12/18/2007 9:00:08 AM

you know you get free refills on any drink?

12/18/2007 9:02:33 AM

I would buy anything that David Cross tells me to. He's awesome.

12/18/2007 9:05:57 AM

whenver i watch ghostbusters I want some perrier and coke for some reason.

12/18/2007 9:13:31 AM

^^^^lol that was a good one



This clip shows off both good and bad product placement IMO. Showing the Dr. Pepper can being set down is bad. It's blatantly obvious that they're "advertising" the product. The logos on the building are much more natural because advertisements are part of the movie's world.

Another example of "good" product placement to me is Minority Report. Even though it's much more blatant, it's done in an unique and interesting way. Plus they seem to be making a subtlely ironic statement about the depths to which advertisements will infiltrate our lives in the future.

[Edited on December 18, 2007 at 9:17 AM. Reason : ^]

12/18/2007 9:16:44 AM

Quote :

"cuz they would honestly bitch no matter what make is in the movie."

the particular brand isn't the point, the point is they make an effort and go out of their way to make DAMN sure you see and notice the logo. I wish i could find a video of this, but there might as well not be a movie going on around this logo during the particular scene i'm thinking of.

12/18/2007 9:22:07 AM

right. if you want to make all of your cars ford, that's fine. but don't give me a closeup of the ford logo in the middle of a film.

12/18/2007 9:29:46 AM

Quote :

"Plus they seem to be making a subtlely ironic statement about the depths to which advertisements will infiltrate our lives in the future. right now"

As evidenced by the idiots in this thread


[Edited on December 18, 2007 at 9:44 AM. Reason : .]

12/18/2007 9:43:42 AM

It's not more realistic when every example of a product in a movie is made by the same manufacturer.

With that said, I'm a fan of going balls out with product placement just to get it over on itself (see the aforementioned Burger King/AD tie-ins, or Josie and the Pussycats).

The worst example of product placement I've ever seen is in the Michel Almereyda version of Hamlet...there's a minute long shot of Hamlet walking down a hallway that's completely empty except for a Pepsi One machine in the center of the frame.

12/18/2007 3:04:06 PM

movie snobbery is running rampant in this thread

some of you need to get over yourselves

12/18/2007 3:10:51 PM