Poor Product Placement

Dr. Pepper - Spiderman (2002, Raimi) - The first film I ever saw on a date (this was when I was 11). Again it has the same problem with the pristine Dr. Pepper cans as Real Steel did, however they weren’t quite as shiny back then. Handily Peter Parker decides to test out his new abilities by carefully placing a drink can with the logo facing him (possibly with drink left inside) and then smashing up the place in order to catch it. This then leads to an awkward exchange with his aunt while he’s trying to hide his progression through puberty and his bedroom covered in a white gooey substance (I’m glad I didn’t get the joke when I was 11) - at least the lamp he broke has mysteriously mended itself though.

(But let’s not forget about the Burger King promotional game Sneak King - there is a rather good episode of Rage Quit which features it)

Coke Zero - Scott Pilgrim Versus The World (2010, Wright) - Although I have both read and seen Scott Pilgrim (seeing it first in the cinema five times), I had become sure that this was a cross-platform product placement, and as such wouldn’t have any bad connotations due to the source material being Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Canadian indie comic that rose to great popularity. However, it turns out that the only cola that appears in the book is not branded, and the ‘Zero’ t-shirt Scott wears in both the book and film (which I now also own - product placement works), is actually a reference to the Smashing Pumpkins. Although I’m not sure if money changed hands for this one, it definitely still is a good thematic fit with the numbers system in the series and Scott Pilgrim being the “zero”, it’s just strange that it pervaded my knowledge of the original source material too.

But also the likes of these and many more showed up: Bulgari watches, Dell computers, LG Phones, Vanity Fair, Wired, Rolling Stone magazine and of course the US Military - However, although some railed against this, I think that some of it (not all) fits appropriately with the character and the universe. At least the pizza and donuts he eats are from “Ray’s”.

Barack Obama? - Burnout Paradise - This is the first example of political advertising in videogames I’ve come across for this blog, and although this is from 2008, it seems rather fitting at the moment. This was not the only game he made an appearance in. Obama also showed up in Madden NFL 09 and others (most notably, more recently in NBA 2K12 when Obama was unlockable as a head coach as you can see here).

Of course there are also a number of cars involved in this film as per Bond tradition. The only bit I really didn’t like was when Naomie Harris’ character pointed out to bond that there were VW Beetles on a train. It just seemed to mess up the rhythm of the dialogue for her to bother saying the full name. But the film itself was fantastic, and you also then do get to see something not overly nice happen to those beetles, so not the best advert if you’re looking for a heavy duty car then.

Every Product in the 1960s - Mad Men - I can’t believe I didn’t think of this one sooner. Although technically not “poor product placement”, it is still product placement, but in one of the most genius ways possible. Building a show set at an advertising company, and actually have it being good? A masterstroke. There are a lot of big hitters in there too: Lucky Strike is the first and most prominent in the show, an episode is built around Betty Draper being in a coca-cola advert, there are numerous cars, cleaning products, clothing products, etc etc. The manner in which all of this is handled seems a little bit hazy as to who is paying who, but it’s seamlessly done all the same.

Subway - Community - Continuing today’s Community theme I have the second excellent example of product placement done well in television.  Having pre-established within previous episodes that there was a slot for a sandwich shop in the school’s cafeteria, it already is an appropriate fit. But as the video above demonstrates, the show goes a step further than that by anthropomorphising the company (in a bit of amusing political satire) in order to provide an explanation as to why Subway can operate in what’s meant to be a student run area. Subway definitely had a good sense of humour to allow this through as the episode does make fun of them. But I think this will probably be the only example in history of when a humanised company falls in love with one of the main characters (There are even fans that are shipping Britta and Subway). Community does everything well.

Domino’s Pizza - Everquest II - This is quite a strange one. The game actually added a command which made it possible for players to order pizza within the game. I don’t think it ever really worked that well as the same box they were playing on could also have a much better internet interface on it too. But quite unique all the same

KFC - Community - Yay, it’s Community day here at Poor Product Placement, and I’m going to go over two of the best and funniest examples of product placement in television. In season 2 episode 4, the group are made to clean an old KFC spaceship simulator after submitting the winning image for the school’s flag which the dean later realises is a sphincter. Wacky antics ensue, and although the placement is obvious, there don’t seem to be many logos or letterings around. There is a good joke about the game inside the simulator requiring the herbs and spices to be at the right level, but it’s tasteful all the same. The colonel is even made into a digital avatar to talk the gang through the simulation. 

Aside from this there’s also placement of the production company within some videocall software. And Skyy vodka was not only featured in the film, but they also did a cross-promotion too. So that’s some nice inverse placement too.

Ford - Fringe (again) - I know I’ve mentioned them a lot, but it’s because they seem to be actively trying to get mentioned for it. This clip is one of the worst examples of product placement I’ve seen, which is a shame as it could’ve been a potentially cool opening: It starts off innocuous enough. Yeah, it’s a ford car, but that’s fine. Roomy interior shot, still acceptable. Then the lightning hits. Is that car in front a Ford? I THINK NOT - they are doomed to death because of this. The Ford car’s good traction keeps it on the road before a lovely glancing bit of lightning highlights a poster shot of the car for a few seconds. More lightning, but you forget, this is the sponsor so their car is fucking awesome and indestructible. Time to reverse out of here (for some reason), let’s have a lingering shot showing that super sweet rear-facing camera screen. Cut to the wheels - LOOK DEY GOTS THE LOGOS ON THEM TOOOOOOO! They reverse like 10 metres? Have another egregious rear logo shot. But then the father decides to get out, but not before announcing “you’ll be safe in the car” - of course they will…

The product placement in this game also tries its hardest to ruin the question as to the reality of the world your protagonist is in. There are allusions to the fact that it could all be a dream throughout the game, but personally, my dreams don’t tend to feature full-length phone adverts on magical dream televisions.

iMac - Zoolander (2001, Stiller) - For a lot of people macs themselves were a joke at this time (*cough* I did just recently buy one, but shh). But although I haven’t seen it recently, I remember the central joke about needing to get physical files out of the computer being amusing at the time.

Xbox - The Island (Bay, 2005) - *Cough* this product placement was out of date before you could say “bad timing”. The Island came out in the middle of 2005, and the Xbox 360 was released at the end of that year, so the film may have still been in cinemas in some places when that happened. The promotions had definitely started before the release of the film. At least the product placement is appropriate-ish? Totally the precursor to the Kinect in this film.

AOL - You’ve Got Mail (Ephron, 1998) - This whole film only exists to be a product placement. That is all. (I remember thinking it was okay as a kid. I don’t intend to go back to it)