I simply view product placements as an opportunity to amuse myself. I typically loudly announce "product placement!" each time I see something incredibly obvious. I love it. I love the way they try to sneak the products in there, but do it in such a cheesy way that there's no doubt about whether it was accidental or not. Like somebody picking up a can of drink and the label just happens to be pointing straight at the camera! Or they open their fridge and... what do you know?... it's full of [coke/pepsi/budweiser/mountain dew/etc] and there's a whole row of them right at the front of the shelf...
Anyone remember that sketch from the Wayne's World movie?
Plus, as a bonus, my tactic provides opportunity to really annoy fellow movie-goers or TV-watchers if it's a particularly placement-heavy feature!
Hehe, like we say in the software industry, "it's a feature, not a bug!" Although I can see how, if you don't notice them like I do, they could be subliminally inserting suggestions in your brain. I think I've managed to harden myself against marketing tricks because they bug me so much. YMMV.
(wow, I do use first person singular pronouns quite heavily, don't I...)
I made an error in one of my comments in that product placement thread. It was Ayn Rand who mentione Cocoa Puffs and Archie Bunker who ate Fruit Loops.
I think Brian Tiemann touched on this not too long ago, but I also find it ridiculous and jarring when people talk about 'drinking cola' or purchase smokes by saying 'a pack of light cigarettes, please'.
I'm also amazed by the lack of outrage from people when they hear this sort of condescension - it's an automatic assumption of mental retardation on the part of the viewers if you consider us incapable of resisting the example of on-screen characters. I'm up for discussion on the topic of three-year-olds imitating violence seen on Tom and Jerry cartoons, but by the time that a human being has a monetary income and the wherewithal to use it to make purchases, they're generally past the 'ooh, shiny, me want!' phase.
That so much of public policy discussion is based on this sort of emotion-based nonsense is frankly scary. There's quite convincing evidence against the notion that immoral and/or violent behavior depicted in media actually causes people to copy what they see. Like the fact that violent crime has steadily declined since the 1970s, when violence became much more prevalent and graphic in both film and television. Or that ever since the mid-to-late eighties, when sexual promiscuity became acceptable in PG-13 movies and primetime television, teen pregnancy and STD rates have also declined.
Of course none of this matters, because it's only, uh, facts. Soccer moms yelling because they object to depravity is apparently sufficient grounds for policy. And Nader is supposed to be a progressive?
And 'subliminal' is a freaking retarded word. There's nothing subliminal about advertising, apart from the fact that if you see enough annoying detergent commercials that say TIDE!, the advertisers have ensured that you know TIDE! is a detergent. Therefore, you're much more likely to grab a box of TIDE! from a shelf than a box of BLIG! when you're looking for detergent.
Every time I go out of the house, I see a fair amount of product placement for Toyota and Buick and Ford and Chrysler and whatever else drives by. I'm not somehow compelled to buy myself a Land Cruiser and a LaCrosse and a Mustang and a Sebring.
Is that really what motivates some socialists? The belief that human individuals have the cognitive power and faculty of will comparable to a gerbil, and therefore must be kept in safe cages, eating a fiber-rich diet and running the wheel to get the necessary cardio excercise?
Anyone remember that sketch from the Wayne's World movie?
Plus, as a bonus, my tactic provides opportunity to really annoy fellow movie-goers or TV-watchers if it's a particularly placement-heavy feature!
Hehe, like we say in the software industry, "it's a feature, not a bug!" Although I can see how, if you don't notice them like I do, they could be subliminally inserting suggestions in your brain. I think I've managed to harden myself against marketing tricks because they bug me so much. YMMV.
(wow, I do use first person singular pronouns quite heavily, don't I...)
I'm also amazed by the lack of outrage from people when they hear this sort of condescension - it's an automatic assumption of mental retardation on the part of the viewers if you consider us incapable of resisting the example of on-screen characters. I'm up for discussion on the topic of three-year-olds imitating violence seen on Tom and Jerry cartoons, but by the time that a human being has a monetary income and the wherewithal to use it to make purchases, they're generally past the 'ooh, shiny, me want!' phase.
That so much of public policy discussion is based on this sort of emotion-based nonsense is frankly scary. There's quite convincing evidence against the notion that immoral and/or violent behavior depicted in media actually causes people to copy what they see. Like the fact that violent crime has steadily declined since the 1970s, when violence became much more prevalent and graphic in both film and television. Or that ever since the mid-to-late eighties, when sexual promiscuity became acceptable in PG-13 movies and primetime television, teen pregnancy and STD rates have also declined.
Of course none of this matters, because it's only, uh, facts. Soccer moms yelling because they object to depravity is apparently sufficient grounds for policy. And Nader is supposed to be a progressive?
Every time I go out of the house, I see a fair amount of product placement for Toyota and Buick and Ford and Chrysler and whatever else drives by. I'm not somehow compelled to buy myself a Land Cruiser and a LaCrosse and a Mustang and a Sebring.
Is that really what motivates some socialists? The belief that human individuals have the cognitive power and faculty of will comparable to a gerbil, and therefore must be kept in safe cages, eating a fiber-rich diet and running the wheel to get the necessary cardio excercise?