What's the big deal about product placement?

[spider-neil]

Am I the only one who doesn't get the critisism?
For instance there was a big deal about IHop appearing in MoS.
Or Spidey using Bing in ASM. Whether someone is drinking a Pepsi or screen or a Big Mac, who the hell cares?

 

[lime]

When critics want to criticize, they need to find something.

Product placement is in no way a problem for a film. Do we care if we see in the background McDonalds logo or a logo for a brand created for the movie? No.

Critics gonna hate.

 

[James]

I don't mind it at all, as long as it's not distracting. If a character uses Google, fine and dandy, that makes sense. Alternatively when you have something like a shot where two characters stand either side of the screen having a conversation and there's a massive billboard behind them, or the scene is outright dedicated to a product (see Blade III's iPod ad) then it takes me out of the film. A car goes smashing through a Coke truck, cool -they were going to smash through a truck anyway, might as well have a label on it...but we don't need to look at the truck for 30 seconds beforehand, or zoom in on a fallen bottle after the accident.

 

[Thundarr]

Yeah, it's a delicate balance. If done subtley, it's fine. Someone just happens to be drinking a can of Coke. But they can go overboard sometimes.

 

[Tequilla]

Lynch always has the wisest words

[YT]F4wh_mc8hRE[/YT]

If you are re-framing shots thinking in a way to show your company's partner name , instead of what's right for your own movie...that's what's wrong.

Nothing wrong with movies having real trademarks in them. It's normal. It's not normal when you deviate from your work to blatantly publicize something.

 

[Bruce Malone]

Yeah, it's a delicate balance. If done subtley, it's fine. Someone just happens to be drinking a can of Coke. But they can go overboard sometimes.

Exactly as long as it mirrors real life where you just happen to see logos here and there. I don't like it when there is any linger on the logo though or making sure it really appears in focus.

There was an awkward moment in MoS where the Sears logo just happened to pop up in frame and it was almost as if the camera just shot up to focus on it. Some people in the theater actually laughed because it seemed so blatant.

 

[James]

On my planet, the S stands for Sears.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I will find reasonably priced household items!

 

[James]

Is it a bird?! Is it a plane?! No! It's 30% off a brand new fridge-freezer!

 

[Immortalfire]

Product placement becomes annoying if in the movie, the characters themselves outright refer to it so that you'll without a doubt, be aware that it's there. Like when Peter uses a Dr. Pepper can for webshooting practice, it's just there. Pete doesn't comment "Now I'll use this DOCTOR PEPPER can to try to perfect my new abilities."

The prime example of overdone product placement is the E.T. ripoff, "Mac & Me". That whole movie is one big McDonald's commercial.

 

[redhawk23]

99% of the time I have no real problem with it but there are cases where it can be pretty invasive.

In MOS there is a dramatic scene outside of a Sears. Superman takes off and the camera lingers on the Sears sign.

The Ihop was a little ridiculous too. It was just a bit too obvious. Lois tracks down an old childhood friend of Clark's and he works at Ihop? Okay thats fine, Ihops included. Giant battle scene moves into the exact same IHOP? Post battle conversation staged in the same Ihop again? It was just a little odd.

In both cases the product placement was so obvious that the scene felt more like one of those commercials with movie footage inserted rather than just a happenstance inclusion of the brand within the context of the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIE2Li7auNE

[YT]VIE2Li7auNE[/YT]
Not much difference between the IHOP scenes and this.

"A bit overdone" indeed.

 

[redhawk23]

On my planet, the S stands for Sears.

I'm going to put this in my sig if thats okay.

 

[danoyse]

There was an awkward moment in MoS where the Sears logo just happened to pop up in frame and it was almost as if the camera just shot up to focus on it. Some people in the theater actually laughed because it seemed so blatant.

And Clark's mother works at Sears too. When Lois comes to their house to interview her, you can see she's wearing a Sears shirt and name tag. Noticed that the second time I saw it.

Product placement is fine...except when its distracting. Brad Pitt stopping to drink a Pepsi during a zombie apocalypse, which got a big laugh from my audience when I saw World War Z. There was also a pretty blatant Verizon FIOs ad towards the end of Iron Man 3 as well.

It's inevitable that it's going to be there, obviously someone has to help pay for these big expensive blockbusters...its just that sometimes they can be a little blatant about it.

 

[Bruce Malone]

And Clark's mother works at Sears too. When Lois comes to their house to interview her, you can see she's wearing a Sears shirt and name tag. Noticed that the second time I saw it.

Now that i didn't notice. Well that explains why Sears was the one building in Smallville not destroyed...he was looking out for mom.

 

[StarLord]

I think sometimes it's suitable and not really that noticeable, but other times it's just too damn corny and obvious.

It's all about the benjamins, unfortunately.

 

[James]

I'm going to put this in my sig if thats okay.

I'd be honored!

 

[charl_huntress]

And Clark's mother works at Sears too. When Lois comes to their house to interview her, you can see she's wearing a Sears shirt and name tag. Noticed that the second time I saw it.

Product placement is fine...except when its distracting. Brad Pitt stopping to drink a Pepsi during a zombie apocalypse, which got a big laugh from my audience when I saw World War Z. There was also a pretty blatant Verizon FIOs ad towards the end of Iron Man 3 as well.

It's inevitable that it's going to be there, obviously someone has to help pay for these big expensive blockbusters...its just that sometimes they can be a little blatant about it.

I did not notice that. Wow...I've seen the movie numerous times and never caught that.

I'm okay with product placement as long as it's not ridiculous. I even like the product placement in some instances because it's not like regular people don't drink Pepsi or by Audis.

 

[John Locke]

I'm okay with product placement as long as it's not ridiculous. I even like the product placement in some instances because it's not like regular people don't drink Pepsi or by Audis.

I remember seeing behind the scenes clip from MOS where they said they used actual companies to make it seem like it was happening at the real place. That's why I don't see the IHOP scene as bad as most people do even if the MOS reasoning is just an excuse.

A bad use that springs to mind is when they built the Fantastic Four Car out of like a Dodge or something and they added two lines of dialogue to point that out. It was something along the lines of "Is that a Dodge?" "Of course."

 

[charl_huntress]

I remember seeing behind the scenes clip from MOS where they said they used actual companies to make it seem like it was happening at the real place. That's why I don't see the IHOP scene as bad as most people do even if the MOS reasoning is just an excuse.

A bad use that springs to mind is when they built the Fantastic Four Car out of like a Dodge or something and they added two lines of dialogue to point that out. It was something along the lines of "Is that a Dodge?" "Of course."

I thought that was one of the nuances that added some realism to the SV fight. There were all the hallmarks of a town, like a 7-11 and a Sears. I also got a little kick out of Pete working at IHOP. So none of the product placement in MOS bothered me a bit...

I can't really think of any bad product placement off the top of my head. Maybe some stuff in the Transformers like the X-Box and the Mtn. Dew, but there are no real serious offenders I can think of. I think for me when they place a product and don't try to make it work in the story, and you can just tell it's just product placement, is when it's the worse.

 

[Wolfwood]

The biggest offender of bad product placement over the last year or so has been Bing.



But that's on TV. I don't know of any horrific movie moments where I was completely thrown out of the viewing experience.

 

[charl_huntress]

OH Yeah...I sort of forget about TV and product placement, but I've watched so many people on Arrow use the MS Surface that...yeah...I get it. So I bought one.

 

[flickchick85]

The stores/restaurants didn't bother me in MoS because I just felt like they grounded the action in a very recognizable world. What DID bother me in MoS was the extreme close-ups of the damn Nikon camera. There's one shot where Lois literally places the camera in front of the frame before she even climbs into the background, so that literally the only thing we have to focus on in the shot is that shiny Nikon logo.

I have no problem with product placement as long as it's not distracting. And that shot was definitely distracting, because there was absolutely no other purpose for that shot except to display the camera.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

The obvious ones can be annoying.

Spooner buying a pair of 2004 Converse (he's in the future) and having people comment abut them.

 

[charl_huntress]

I'm starting to get annoyed with the product placement for every new cell phone. This is especially noticeable on TV now and days.

 

[Spider-Fan83]

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