7 ms·

Well, Netflix does have advertising in their originals, but it's much less in intrusive than the regular ad breaks. It comes in the form of product placement -

Well, Netflix does have advertising in their originals, but it's much less in intrusive than the regular ad breaks. It comes in the form of product placement - characters preferring certain brands of beer, going to certain supermarkets, being fascinated by certain gadgets etc. House of Cards even had a warning about it at the beginning of the show, at least on Netflix UK. Personally I'm not too bothered by it as long as it's subtle, and so far it has been.

sleepychu 10y ago
Perhaps I'm just sensitive to it but the House of Cards placement in particular seemed really conspicuous to me. (Maybe especially because they just all had iPhones in the previous season and so there were lots of iPhone shots when they used their phones). But generally I find I notice the product placement spots because they seem out of the flow of the program, I guess they work best when the brand is more hands-off and lets the creator do it subtly.
- tantanel 10y ago
  I think I would have noticed far less of the placements if it hadn't been for the "warning" before the episodes. :)
  - sleepychu 10y ago
    Amusingly I didn't notice the warning!
- kyriakos 10y ago
  I don't even notice them and even if I had I wouldn't mind. I mean characters will use a phone in the series, the production might as well get something out of it. It becomes a problem when the plot is built around the product placement e.g its done a lot in modern family
  - DanBC 10y ago
    It was pretty heavy handed in some episodes of House of Cards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck
    - kenver 10y ago
      Out of context like that it seems really obvious, but with the background of the character (he likes playing video games to relax), the first time I saw that it didn't seem so out of place for him to be interested in the gadgets. It does seem incredibly blatant in the clip though.
      - DanBC 10y ago
        > (he likes playing video games to relax) No, he likes playing video games on his PLAYSTATION(TM) to relax, and it feels like this bit of character detail was kludged in purely to satisfy the product placement requirement. It's obvious that with a different sponsor the character would have had different behaviours.
        xapata 10y ago
        I dunno about that. The dialogue felt natural to me.
    - Diederich 10y ago
      I've only watched a few episodes of House of Cards, and none of them were this episode. I can see why you'd consider it heavy handed. Had I watched that in the episode proper, it would have set off the 'placement ad!' bell in my head. However, as stated elsewhere, that's orders of magnitude less invasive than a real ad., and it would not break the flow of the show, for me, at all. It's really the same kind of exchange I have actually been involved with many times in real life.
- tallanvor 10y ago
  I've just started watching House of Cards this month, and there is a disclaimer from Netflix that the show contains product placements, so at least they're being honest about it.
  - rocgf 10y ago
    IANAL but I also think it might be illegal not to disclaim it in certain places. Not sure about UK, but it definitely is in certain European countries.
    - efdee 10y ago
      Belgium is one of those countries. We have a little PP logo displayed at the start of shows that contain product placement.
      - gcp 10y ago
        Ah, so that's what that means!
    - ciaranm 10y ago
      Apparently there's a logo that has to be run before & after the show - but only if the show is made in the UK - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-consumers/television/product-placement-on-tv https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-c...
    - jdormit 10y ago
      FWIW, I watched House of Cards in the the US and did not see any disclaimers about product placement.
- transcranial 10y ago
  I actually played the amazing game Monument Valley after seeing it in House of Cards. Although from what I can recall this wasn't paid placement so much as the writers just loved the game.
  - sleepychu 10y ago
    I just looked that up because I couldn't believe it. What? It's so ham fisted!
- dexterdog 10y ago
  To be fair, actors often use their own phones and those tend to be iPhones far more often than they are with the general population.
flurdy 10y ago
Nokia's banana phone and Matrix comes to mind. I assume it was a product placement or they just picked what at the time was a good looking phone, though it seems odd now.
- ascagnel_ 10y ago
  The phone from the movie was just to look cool -- while Nokia did make the slider phone, they never made the spring-loaded version in the movie.
  - DanBC 10y ago
    The Nokia 8110 is the one used in the Matrix. The later model, the 7110, was spring loaded. I still have mine. The spring broke, which is a bit frustrating. At the time it was a really nice phone though. http://neuro.me.uk/bitsnbobs/matrixphone/ http://neuro.me.uk/bitsnbobs/matrixphone/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7110 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7110
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  It helps to remember what phones look like at the time. They were all fairly ugly and blocky. The spring loaded mouthpiece was fairly cool looking. Of course, it doesn't exist. That phone never had a spring in it. That was a modification for the movie and I'm fairly certain you couldn't make out the logo or brand. So I'm guessing this probably wasn't product placement. Imagine the angry customers flocking to the store to see that the phone doesn't do what it did in the movies.
josefresco 10y ago
To be fair, network and cable TV shows do this as well - AND run commercials.
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
I guess its okay if its subtle, but I'm still scratching my head over an episode of Mr. Robot that was pretty much an Amazon Alexa commercial. The Alexa dialogue didn't do anything to advance the plot or build out the characters or build drama. It was completely tacked on and a bizarre attempt at several minutes of product placement. Worse, the USA Network also runs ads. So it was needless double-dipping.
- jdormit 10y ago
  To be fair, the message I got from that episode was "Alexa is a poorly designed friend replacement for lonely people", so I'm not sure Amazon really got their money's worth there.
  - danso 10y ago
    Yeah, I saw it asa way to flesh out the anti-social nature of Dom. And I'm not sure if it's the same episode as her Alexa chats, but the scene of the lawyer's apartment going all haunted (via hack) certainly isn't a strong endorsement for smart homes.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dexterdog 10y ago
  I thought the Alexa part was an easy explanation of how alone the character is.
mrfusion 10y ago
If it's done tastefully it's actually less jarring than blurring out brands or making up fake ones.

sleepychu 10y ago

Perhaps I'm just sensitive to it but the House of Cards placement in particular seemed really conspicuous to me. (Maybe especially because they just all had iPhones in the previous season and so there were lots of iPhone shots when they used their phones). But generally I find I notice the product placement spots because they seem out of the flow of the program, I guess they work best when the brand is more hands-off and lets the creator do it subtly.

tantanel 10y ago
I think I would have noticed far less of the placements if it hadn't been for the "warning" before the episodes. :)
- sleepychu 10y ago
  Amusingly I didn't notice the warning!
kyriakos 10y ago
I don't even notice them and even if I had I wouldn't mind. I mean characters will use a phone in the series, the production might as well get something out of it. It becomes a problem when the plot is built around the product placement e.g its done a lot in modern family
- DanBC 10y ago
  It was pretty heavy handed in some episodes of House of Cards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck
  - kenver 10y ago
    Out of context like that it seems really obvious, but with the background of the character (he likes playing video games to relax), the first time I saw that it didn't seem so out of place for him to be interested in the gadgets. It does seem incredibly blatant in the clip though.
    - DanBC 10y ago
      > (he likes playing video games to relax) No, he likes playing video games on his PLAYSTATION(TM) to relax, and it feels like this bit of character detail was kludged in purely to satisfy the product placement requirement. It's obvious that with a different sponsor the character would have had different behaviours.
      - xapata 10y ago
        I dunno about that. The dialogue felt natural to me.
  - Diederich 10y ago
    I've only watched a few episodes of House of Cards, and none of them were this episode. I can see why you'd consider it heavy handed. Had I watched that in the episode proper, it would have set off the 'placement ad!' bell in my head. However, as stated elsewhere, that's orders of magnitude less invasive than a real ad., and it would not break the flow of the show, for me, at all. It's really the same kind of exchange I have actually been involved with many times in real life.
tallanvor 10y ago
I've just started watching House of Cards this month, and there is a disclaimer from Netflix that the show contains product placements, so at least they're being honest about it.
- rocgf 10y ago
  IANAL but I also think it might be illegal not to disclaim it in certain places. Not sure about UK, but it definitely is in certain European countries.
  - efdee 10y ago
    Belgium is one of those countries. We have a little PP logo displayed at the start of shows that contain product placement.
    - gcp 10y ago
      Ah, so that's what that means!
  - ciaranm 10y ago
    Apparently there's a logo that has to be run before & after the show - but only if the show is made in the UK - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-consumers/television/product-placement-on-tv https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-c...
  - jdormit 10y ago
    FWIW, I watched House of Cards in the the US and did not see any disclaimers about product placement.
transcranial 10y ago
I actually played the amazing game Monument Valley after seeing it in House of Cards. Although from what I can recall this wasn't paid placement so much as the writers just loved the game.
- sleepychu 10y ago
  I just looked that up because I couldn't believe it. What? It's so ham fisted!
dexterdog 10y ago
To be fair, actors often use their own phones and those tend to be iPhones far more often than they are with the general population.

flurdy 10y ago

Nokia's banana phone and Matrix comes to mind. I assume it was a product placement or they just picked what at the time was a good looking phone, though it seems odd now.

ascagnel_ 10y ago
The phone from the movie was just to look cool -- while Nokia did make the slider phone, they never made the spring-loaded version in the movie.
- DanBC 10y ago
  The Nokia 8110 is the one used in the Matrix. The later model, the 7110, was spring loaded. I still have mine. The spring broke, which is a bit frustrating. At the time it was a really nice phone though. http://neuro.me.uk/bitsnbobs/matrixphone/ http://neuro.me.uk/bitsnbobs/matrixphone/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7110 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7110
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
It helps to remember what phones look like at the time. They were all fairly ugly and blocky. The spring loaded mouthpiece was fairly cool looking. Of course, it doesn't exist. That phone never had a spring in it. That was a modification for the movie and I'm fairly certain you couldn't make out the logo or brand. So I'm guessing this probably wasn't product placement. Imagine the angry customers flocking to the store to see that the phone doesn't do what it did in the movies.

josefresco 10y ago

To be fair, network and cable TV shows do this as well - AND run commercials.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

I guess its okay if its subtle, but I'm still scratching my head over an episode of Mr. Robot that was pretty much an Amazon Alexa commercial. The Alexa dialogue didn't do anything to advance the plot or build out the characters or build drama. It was completely tacked on and a bizarre attempt at several minutes of product placement. Worse, the USA Network also runs ads. So it was needless double-dipping.

jdormit 10y ago
To be fair, the message I got from that episode was "Alexa is a poorly designed friend replacement for lonely people", so I'm not sure Amazon really got their money's worth there.
- danso 10y ago
  Yeah, I saw it asa way to flesh out the anti-social nature of Dom. And I'm not sure if it's the same episode as her Alexa chats, but the scene of the lawyer's apartment going all haunted (via hack) certainly isn't a strong endorsement for smart homes.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dexterdog 10y ago
I thought the Alexa part was an easy explanation of how alone the character is.

mrfusion 10y ago

If it's done tastefully it's actually less jarring than blurring out brands or making up fake ones.