Rajorajorajo | 26 Jan 2012 | 221 Views | 1 Likes | 0 Dislikes

I Love YouTube: Product Placement Dos and Don'ts

Hey look, everybody hates corporations, I mean for real. They’re nothing but faceless, profit-hungry giants trampling our rights and polluting the psychic landscape with ‘ads’ for stuff we never knew we needed but on second thought hey you know what I am hungry for a hamburger... what jerks. However, since they do own all the money in the world they usually end up playing the role of sugardaddy to the struggling artists of the world... artists like Sony/Universal Pictures, Disney/Marvel Comics, EA Games... the list of downtrodden, resource-less visionaries such as these is nigh-endless. Please don’t begrudge them - it takes moola to make the great art and culture we enjoy, and if getting that moola means giving Peter Parker a pair of Nike sneakers, then so be it.

Sometimes, however, the product placement sticks out like a sore thumb (that’s the second time I’ve used that phrase this week) which is why, when you watch a movie featuring characters eating non-descript potato chips and smoking nameless cigarettes you might find it odd that their soft drink of choice is actually something you see advertised every 10 minutes you are awake and alive. It’s weird, jarring and it takes you right out of the movie.

LIKE FOR INSTANCE:

I, Robot

Shut up, Will Smith.

It reminds you that the thing you’re watching isn’t real - a big no-no for people working in the dream-factory, trading in suspension of disbelief, making, you know, MOVIES.

However, in other movies or TV shows or whatever, it’s either way more subtle or it's used as a joke or they’ve somehow cleverly worked the product placement into the story, but these examples are few and far between.

LIKE FOR INSTANCE:

Wayne’s World

I miss Mike Myers...

Castaway

I miss Tom Hanks...

Talking about this stuff is nothing new (in fact, I’ve chatted with Morgan Spurlock about this very subject - the video of which you can watch here), but the reason I’m reminded of this practice is because I was made aware of these awful, AWFUL clips from that new Hawaii 5-0 show, that just make me want to strangle someone:

Attention movie/TV executives: your product instantly comes across as trite and demeaning if you handle product placement like this. So DON’T.

Bonus clip:

E.T. is famous for having Reece’s Pieces smeared all over it, so I’m puzzled as to why that creepy caucasion alien baby never appeared in Reece's actual TV ads... I mean, who the f*** is this blue dude??

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