To many product placement goes greatly unnoticed or is met with a sarky comment here and there about commercialism in films and how advertising seems to be getting into every nook and cranny and soon there will be no escape, but to me product placement is genius. I agree that if Megan Fox would have at some point in the film drank a bottle of Mountain Dew and winked at the camera like a cheesy advert, we could say that it detracted from the film, but this rarely happens. In my honest opinion I think product placement is a win win situation. For the viewer it helps make the film more real. Ok so giant transforming robots running around on earth isn't the most realistic idea, but the product placement helps us to relate to things and places in the film, and makes us think that this isn't happening in a world too far from our own, seeing as they are eating, drinking, driving and using all the same things we do. To me product placement helps us engage with the reader.
For the organizations trying to sell their products, product placement is a godsend. How many of you who have watched transformers can honestly tell me that after seeing the new Chevrolet Camaro SS gracefully modeled by bumblebee, you haven't sat back and dreamt about owning that car. I know I have.
At the end of the day the simple fact is product placement works and in my opinion enhances viewing rather than spoiling it. Furthermore how many people really care? I can't say until this assignment I've ever payed attention to product placement, at least on a conscious level anyway. Sure I've seen products in films and thought, 'yeah I like that' but its never detracted from my viewing experience. I guess product placement will always be one of those things that is fiercely debated. In the U.S its acceptable and continues to happen, whilst in the U.K, the regulating body Ofcom sees product placement as a pest and product placement continues to be illegal in the U.K. As far as my view goes, I like product placement I think its great and until it really does start to become a nuisance I say keep doing what your doing film industry!
Product Placements: Austin-Healey, BMW, Cadillac (Cadillac Escalade), Chevrolet (Chevrolet Camaro), Daewoo, Dodge, Ford (Ford Mustang), GMC (GMC Yukon), Aquafina, Hummer, Lexus, Peterbilt, Pontiac, Porsche, Saturn, Toyota, Volkswagen (Volkswagen Beetle), Enterprise, AAA, Apple, AT&T, BOSCH, Bose, Technics, Sennheiser, Cisco, DeWalt, GPX, HP, Nokia, Panasonic, Realistic, Beretta, Burger King, Ding Dong, HO HO's, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Taco Bell, Pepto-Bismol, Washington Redskins, Boston Red Sox, Citi Group, Wells Fargo, USA Today, Yahoo!, Meltdown Comics, PayPal, Microsoft (Xbox), RadioShack, Dickies, eBay, G-Star Raw, NFL, Nike, Oakley, Reebok, USPS.
