Product Placement
I constantly hear people whining about product placement in movies and TV, but it's never bothered me. There was a perfect example of why on Heroes tonight. Nikki/Jessica gets a letter and goes to open it, and it's clearly in a FedEx envelope. Only, instead of saying FedEx, it says SendEx. How this is any better than just leaving it FedEx, which is both easier and more realistic, is beyond me.
Even the Nissan Versa in this show, which I've seen people complain about, and which is clearly superfluous to the plot doesn't bother me, because all the references to it fit nicely with (and actually helped develop) Hiro's character.
3 comments:
I don't mind product placement in shows as long as it helps the scene, rather than obstrusively shilling some brand or "tying in" with an ad campaign.
Worst case in point of the latter I ever saw was about 5 years ago on the WB. In back-to-back episodes of Buffy and Angel the action on screen brought in the issue of crappy cell-phone reception. Shockingly, one of the commercials on heavy rotation that night was for some cell carrier who was targeting the issue of dropped calls. It was ham-handed and offensive.
Yeah, I agree if it's done Wayne's World style, only without the satire, it's bad. I just don't see that very often, so I don't get why people complain about it.
It can be funny too. Like Kevin and that shredder on The Office.
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