Like pretty much everyone else on earth,
the members of the Screen Actors and Writers Guilds are crazy sick of product placement. Amen, brothers and sisters -
amen. They even staged a protest yesterday, outside of a hotel where agents and producers were huddling with
advertisers, though no one bothered to invite us regular joes. According to union heads, their complaints hinge on
studio-advertiser deals that force writers to create scripts containing pitches for products, and force the poor actors
to read said scripts. Oh, and they're also (of course), worried about the public, who might be stupid enough to think
that Lorelai
Gilmore is not only a real person, but also really loves Starbuck's. Some of which, you know, sounds pretty
reasonable on the face of it, right? I mean, reading crappy scripts is bad enough, but when you have to shill for
MasterCard, it just gets humiliating.The only problem with SAG's and WGA's righteous indignation, however, is that not much of what they're whining about has anything to do with them. In fact, the two groups reportedly complain most about the out of control product placement on reality TV, a medium with which they have no involvement whatsoever (assuming, that is, that they don't show up on The Surreal Life). Hmm. So what's the problem again?
[image from 8bit Joystick]
1. While I agree, I also feel inclined to point out that if the screenwriters want you to believe that what is happening is as close to the real world as possible, then product placement is just another addition to that reality.
Face it, people like Starbucks. I like Starbucks. Thus, you will see me in a Starbucks from time to time when I feel obliged to pay for overpriced coffee.
I hated seeing people black out any type of "advertisement" or create fake logos to put on fictional cans of soda that you'd never see in a store.
But, perhaps, the most prolific example of product placement is anything Apple has. You see Apple computers on just about *every* television show and in the movies. It's as if Apple was really the most popular computer and company on the planet when the computer usage statistics prove otherwise.
Perhaps what we really need is a reality check. Pepsi isn't the most popular soda out there, Apple isn't the most popular computer out there by far, and not everyone loves to spend an exuberant amount of money on coffee.
Posted at 9:56PM on Feb 9th 2006 by Chris