It's not essential, but I think it adds a realistic (and in some cases, humorous) touch to fiction. I dunno, I guess it's strangely comforting and amusing to know McDonald's would still be around in the future predicted in some sci-fi films, for example.
shareIt is distracting to me, because I always think this..."What did the company pay for this product placement?"....Then I start looking for a competitor, like in the Back to the Future (1985) films that featured Pepsi , I started to look for (but failed) to find any Coke products.
Best to leave them out.
Haha...that's unfortunately true.
shareAgree, I feel a sense of negative product placement and financial greed on seeing actual products and brands; it is an unwelcome distraction.
shareIt's distracting when they were referenced or pushed. If they are just simply being there then it's okay. Like for example a journalist character would whip out his/her trusty Nikon is okay. It's even better than a made up camera brand or just empty all black camera. But if everyone and their grandmother drives Audi, different models but all Audi (like in MCU movies) it becomes distracting and cringeworthy.
shareWell, as I'm reading your post on my economical, yet efficient, HP desktop computer, I started pondering that myself. So I had a few sips of my refreshing Starbucks iced zoppiato which really stimulates the brain, and I decided that I wouldn't like it very much at all. It'd be like getting lost in the woods without a handy Apple iPhone 11 with it's advanced GPS tracking features.
shareTell us more. Where can I buy those great HP products?
shareWhen I see it in books, I hate it. It feels like the author got paid to put it there.
shareI don't get too worked up over product placement.
shareIt doesn't make a difference to me, one way or the other.
shareIf a company wants to pay to have their product featured in a film, it's okay by me.
One of the biggest product placements and one of the biggest bad decisions was in ET. Reese's Pieces were used and got huge publicity. From what I heard, the film initially wanted to use M&Ms and the company turned them down. Really bad move!
When real products are used in TV shows, it just looks realistic. I remember the old sitcoms when the mom would put a box of cereal on the table. The product name was covered with a piece of black tape. It is so fake looking. Everyone knows that there is a brand name under there!
Some old shows went out of their way not to mention a specific product. If the item in question had a generic name, then it sounded okay.
In a scene from The Andy Griffith Show, it was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Barney was sitting on Andy's porch.
He said, "Think I'll go down to the filling station, get me a bottle of pop and go home and take a nap."
He didn't say Coke or Pepsi but there was no need to. Southerners refer to soft drinks as pop. But it sounds phony when characters go out of their way to NOT mention a product name.
I've seen that on shows where a character in a restaurant says, "I'll have a cola". Who the hell says that? ha!
It's equally stupid when a guy goes up to a barkeeper and says 'Gimme a beer and a pack of smokes'
Which Kind and which kind? There are hundreds. Should the bar tender just guess or does the costumer just have very low standards?
Canadians call it pop as well.
shareIt's alright when it's here and there, but when it's blatant like constantly showing scenes of a Mac book being used for example with it's illuminated apple symbol, it's a bit much. It's like, ok we get it. It's a Mac Book, you want us to buy one.
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