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Product placement in series and movies really break my heart, because it plain and simply taints the piece forever. When it's released, sure, okay, so you do y

Product placement in series and movies really break my heart, because it plain and simply taints the piece forever. When it's released, sure, okay, so you do your product placement and get some extra cash to finance the series. Fine. But now, your series which hopefully is good enough to still be watched 20 years, 30 years from now has characters randomly bringing up how they drive an Audi and did you see that builtin navigation system or some bullshit like that. Some TV series are works of art. Thankfully, those tend to not have product placements because they have a high budget to begin with. But sometimes, PP works itself into "classics" and that's when it's really upsetting.

chris_va 9y ago
Heh, it gets better: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/new-technology-could-add-product-placement-to-old-tv-programmes https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/new-technology... ... for some definition of better.
otakucode 9y ago
Nothing disappoints me more than product placement in music videos of all places. I can understand the use of products in rap music, absolute obedience to brands and slavish desire for status symbols is very much a core of what rap is about, but just in general music it is often insulting to both the audience and the performer. I remember when that kid Greyson Chance had a YouTube video that made him famous because he is an amazing singer. He got a record deal and I was curious to see if he'd end up like the next generations Bob Dylan or a crooner or something with the voice he had. But of course, no, they turned him into a knockoff of Justin Bieber and filled his first music video with blatant product placements. I just hope he got enough money so that when he's older he doesn't regret selling his artistic integrity down the toilet before he was even an adult.
- jfaat 9y ago
  the way you talk about ‘rap’ (by which i assume you mean a superset of hip-hop) makes it sound like you really don’t know anything about it. blind brand obedience is absolutely not ‘a core’ of rap. Some very mainstream music featuring rap verses are that way, but your statement was far too broad.
  - soundwave106 9y ago
    Agreed, but just by the references, I assumed the poster was referring to the commercial rap / hip-hop world, and specifically to the popular club oriented segment. What the poster said is pretty much true all around for anything in the most commercial space of music. "Country" music for instance has some pretty blatant product placement, too... but again, largely only at the most commercial space only (the radio-friendly arena-rockish style). Jason Aldean for instance got an endorsement from Coors, and actually changed a song lyric in one single from "Shiner Bock" to "Rocky Tops" as a result. (https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/branding/1084513/jason-aldean-changes-new-singles-lyric-from-shiner-bock-to-rocky https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/branding/1084513...). The same applies for the club friendly / arena side of electronic dance music. A large percentage of them will include product placements, particularly for club lifestyle type products and/or liquors of some sort. Overall, product brand "name drops" have increased heavily in the lyrics of top pop music over the last 20 years (http://www.meiea.org/resources/Journal/Vol.14/Gloor-MEIEA_Journal_vol_14_no_1_2014-p39.pdf http://www.meiea.org/resources/Journal/Vol.14/Gloor-MEIEA_Jo... page. 48). I personally find this type of product placement annoying, and prefer other strategies where companies gain presence without intruding into the music too much. (Red Bull IMHO is an example here: their focus tends to be on content marketing strategies, a strategy that has worked out well for them, and at least in music I find much less annoying).
scarface74 9y ago
I find just the opposite to be disconcerting. Back in the day, Some procedural cop show was talking about "FacePlace" as a stand in for Facebook. Then again it sticks out like a sore thumb to me when shows you IP addresses that can't be valid....
- scrollaway 9y ago
  I don't mind product placement if it's on topic. For example, using Google or Facebook when relevant or showing the brand logos of the PCs in an office. It's when they take the time to show off their completely irrelevant windows tablet or car navigation system or worse. When it's blatant.
isostatic 9y ago
On the other hand the cans of beans that had the word "Heinz" blacked out in 70s BBC programs are really distracting.

chris_va 9y ago

Heh, it gets better: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/new-technology-could-add-product-placement-to-old-tv-programmes https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/new-technology... ... for some definition of better.

otakucode 9y ago

Nothing disappoints me more than product placement in music videos of all places. I can understand the use of products in rap music, absolute obedience to brands and slavish desire for status symbols is very much a core of what rap is about, but just in general music it is often insulting to both the audience and the performer. I remember when that kid Greyson Chance had a YouTube video that made him famous because he is an amazing singer. He got a record deal and I was curious to see if he'd end up like the next generations Bob Dylan or a crooner or something with the voice he had. But of course, no, they turned him into a knockoff of Justin Bieber and filled his first music video with blatant product placements. I just hope he got enough money so that when he's older he doesn't regret selling his artistic integrity down the toilet before he was even an adult.

jfaat 9y ago
the way you talk about ‘rap’ (by which i assume you mean a superset of hip-hop) makes it sound like you really don’t know anything about it. blind brand obedience is absolutely not ‘a core’ of rap. Some very mainstream music featuring rap verses are that way, but your statement was far too broad.
- soundwave106 9y ago
  Agreed, but just by the references, I assumed the poster was referring to the commercial rap / hip-hop world, and specifically to the popular club oriented segment. What the poster said is pretty much true all around for anything in the most commercial space of music. "Country" music for instance has some pretty blatant product placement, too... but again, largely only at the most commercial space only (the radio-friendly arena-rockish style). Jason Aldean for instance got an endorsement from Coors, and actually changed a song lyric in one single from "Shiner Bock" to "Rocky Tops" as a result. (https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/branding/1084513/jason-aldean-changes-new-singles-lyric-from-shiner-bock-to-rocky https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/branding/1084513...). The same applies for the club friendly / arena side of electronic dance music. A large percentage of them will include product placements, particularly for club lifestyle type products and/or liquors of some sort. Overall, product brand "name drops" have increased heavily in the lyrics of top pop music over the last 20 years (http://www.meiea.org/resources/Journal/Vol.14/Gloor-MEIEA_Journal_vol_14_no_1_2014-p39.pdf http://www.meiea.org/resources/Journal/Vol.14/Gloor-MEIEA_Jo... page. 48). I personally find this type of product placement annoying, and prefer other strategies where companies gain presence without intruding into the music too much. (Red Bull IMHO is an example here: their focus tends to be on content marketing strategies, a strategy that has worked out well for them, and at least in music I find much less annoying).

scarface74 9y ago

I find just the opposite to be disconcerting. Back in the day, Some procedural cop show was talking about "FacePlace" as a stand in for Facebook. Then again it sticks out like a sore thumb to me when shows you IP addresses that can't be valid....

scrollaway 9y ago
I don't mind product placement if it's on topic. For example, using Google or Facebook when relevant or showing the brand logos of the PCs in an office. It's when they take the time to show off their completely irrelevant windows tablet or car navigation system or worse. When it's blatant.

isostatic 9y ago

On the other hand the cans of beans that had the word "Heinz" blacked out in 70s BBC programs are really distracting.