For me it depends on how obtrusively it’s done. I’m fine with a character drinking from a coke can, for example. But if they make it a point to have the camera zoom in on the label, for no reason than to show the logo, that’s just fucking lame.

I don’t mind the commercials before a movie. I just don’t want to spend $10 for a two-hour commercial. I don’t mind if I don’t notice product placement, but if I notice it, it means my attention was taken off the story for the sake of selling a product. I didn’t pay for that.

People are tired from advertising being everywhere – anywhere you look (bathrooms, trains, whatever) you see product placements – and when they see it in their favorite shows, they get a sense that their shows have ‘sold out’ and it makes it feel less authentic – not that tv is authentic but when we watch it, we like to think it’s about us and about the story not about how we can buy that can or this.

I know how to get up, but where do you get the arms?

I have seen blatant product placement create wry amusement in people, never seen anyone get up in arms over it. You must mix with some very different types of people.

@syzygy2600 I see your point remember “Castaway” it was just a huge Fed-Ex commercial/Also Austin Powers overdid their Starbucks product placement !

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I also see your point but they ruin the shows,specially in syndication,they usually cut an extra 30 sec to 1 minutes out of the show to add commercials,I hate when at the end of a program they shrink the screen,turn off the sound and do a double screen to show a commercial !
I have bought a few DVD sets of TV shows I like and you would be surprise of how much they are butchered for the sake of inserting extra commercials

I just don’t want to spend $10 for a two-hour commercial

That boils it down for me.

The one that really got me was the Omega placement in Casino Royale.

There was quite a bit of placement in “The Italian Job” – both versions.

@Lightlyseared All Bonds movies are infamous for that,specially BMW product placement ,,,they actually get the customized cars for free !!

Really?

People get upset about this?

Huh, never crosses my mind.

Boy, some are really addicted to creating angst over every little thing.

I’ll save my elevated heart rate for the stuff that really matters. lol

If people are “up in arms”, it’s probably because people have become too savvy concerning the ins and outs of how tv shows and movies are made.

In the early days, people not in the industry didn’t know squat. They didn’t give a hoot about product placement. Who knew what product placement was?

We know so much now that it often gets in the way of enjoying whatever it is we’re watching. Everybody is an expert or a critic.

Come to think of it, why are we even discussing this?

So we’re all movie geniuses. Let’s go ahead and give ourselves a big pat on the back so we can get about the business of shutting up and passing the popcorn.

@SABOTEUR Are you suggesting that we would all be better off if we were less savy and knew less? Usually my understanding of an art form enhances my enjoyment of it. In this case it is my understanding of the advertising business that is hurting my enjoyment of what should be an artform.

The whole idea about tv shows and movies, IMHO, is to suspend disbelief so you can immerse yourself in the performance. The viewer denies himself when he becomes preoccupied with the mechanics of how it was done.

I enjoy knowing the “back story” as well as anyone else. I love reading stories about behind the scenes activity concerning a particular tv show or movie. But when the time comes to watch it, I set all that stuff aside and simply enjoy the performance. I wouldn’t even know Dr. Pepper had 8 product placements and BMW had seven. I don’t key in on those things. I only become aware of it when various Experts and Critics begin beating me over the head with it.

I say ignore it and don’t make a fuss for such trivial things. How about people getting up in arms about the starving?

I enjoy the movie Iron Man, but the obvious Burger King product placement annoys me so much that I whince.