Papa Johns, E-harmony (or whatever it was)... it's one thing to show a brand, it's another to have the characters talk about it several times over!
shareIt would have been fun if they had switched the company names. Eat at E-harmony, and do online dating at Papa Johns.
shareI'm sorry I keep copying and pasting this, but this 'product placement' thing really bugs me:
I do not understand the talk about product placement. It does happen. But consider the following about one instance in this film.
Patton Oswalt's character says he is buying Walter a Cinnabon while they are in LAX. Question: If you were telling a friend you'd like to buy him a Cinnabon, would you say "Hey, let's go get a cinnamon roll at that place that makes cinnamon rolls", or would you say "Let's go get a Cinnabon".
Its akin to someone in a movie or TV going to a bar and ordering "a beer". Does the bartender ever ask "what kind?" as would 99.9% of the bartenders in the world? Its distracting if they don't offer up a brand. You don't order 'a beer' - you say "give me Leinie's".
I'd rather have characters talk like real people than talk around things. In the same line, I'd rather see a Coke can on a table than a "Super Zappo Cola" can. Some would call that product placement as well.
And there is of course the "e-Harmony" thing from the film. I'd much rather have them use "e-Harmony", which of course everyone just thinks 'ok,yeah', than have then use "findmeadate.com" where you have think "what are they talking about? Oh, yeah - like e-Harmony".
To add: I don't know where I read it, but I understand there is a Pizza Hut (or some other US chain in Iceland), so there being a Papa John's isn't as far from reality as you would think.
You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design
I like the way you think...
shareOf course there is Pizza Hut in Iceland. I'm not questioning that.
It helps as you say, to have brands in places where they fit in conversations. Seinfeld did this masterfully more than once (junior mints, jujy fruits), whatever. So it's not like I mind product placement if it's done right.
This film shoved it in your face, though. It detached the viewer from the movie. When Ben Stiller calls his love interest and talks about being in Iceland (!), then Papa Johns, then my dad left us when we were young, then Papa Johns again... Really?
Walter tells the story about his father dying and him having to find work immediately and it turns out to be Papa Johns he is working at (the very next day if I remember). He is kind of forced to go there (in Iceland) and even the color of their cups opens those old memories. Now, I don't have to point out that it being a huge, impersonal pizza chain is better than it being "Bob's Deli" for the story.
I don't find any of the 'product placement' shoved in my face. Though it may have 'detached' you.
You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design
There is a Pizza hut here in Iceland but no Papa Johns, however we have LOTS of Dominos Pizza all over Iceland, the most successful fast-food chain in Iceland.
shareit was quite annoying but I guess Stiller had problems to get money for his movie, so this was one of the solutions, I can understand you have to make compromise with sponsors to get movie funded
shareThe product placement didn't bother me in this since it made it feel real world. Now when the movie stops to tell me how awesome Will Smiths shoes are in I, Robot bothers me. Or when Transformers paused the movie so Mark Wahlberg could do a Budlight commercial bothered me. And in the new Ninja Turtles when they make a Pizza Hutt commercial in the middle of the movie or when a fight scene stops so Michelangelo can let you know he drinks Orange Crush soda. That's the *beep* that bothers me.
shareThere is nothing more off-putting and tacky than bad product placement in movies. One example off the top of my head would be in the Keanu Reeves remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," where they drive to McDonalds to meet a friend. The big yellow M reflection looms across the windshield of the car as they drive up, and Keanu says "We're going to
mcDonalds?" Jesus, it was almost like an tv advertisement.
Another bad one would be in Man of Steel, when Amy Adams is climbing to the top of a ladder, and before she emerges from the top of it she shoves her Nokia camera into the middle of the frame and leaves it there for a good few seconds. I rolled my eyes in the theater when I saw that.
But yeah, on the whole, I agree that product placement can be done well or executed poorly. For example, Fed Ex have their logo all over the movie Cast Away. But it actually works, because the company is an integral part of the plot, and the presence of their name adds realism and verisimilitude to the story instead of "generic company B." Plus, in the movie the Fed Ex plane ends up crashing, so it was in a way a big risk for the company to put their name in that film.
Or another example, the Nokia 8110 in The Matrix. The shot of Neo flipping that out like a badass is a really cool scene. And it doesn't feel in your face or unnecessary for some reason, because the phone is an important part of the plot!
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
Can we confirm that the filmmakers were compensated for the mention of products here? If not, it doesn't bother me at all. If so, it bothers me, but only a little because the rest of this film made up for it.
shareEven if they were compensated who cares? I don't want to watch scenes where characters talk around reality (see my post of Sep 23 2015). As someone posted earlier, life is product placement. To the point where people are buying clothes with logos on them (I don't mean just sportswear). When I wear my "Coke" t-shirt, its product placement. I'm sure you could find many examples where its more egregious, but its definitely not here.
You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design
Apparently some folks do care, judging from the posts in this thread, just as some folks would rather not wear a Coke T-shirt. It's called diversity of thought, and I think that is a good thing, though you are certainly free to disagree.
shareNo, it doesn't bother me, because it makes it more like REAL LIFE. What, are some people afraid that seeing brand name items in films will give them an irresistible urge to buy mass quantities of said product? I've used the "Gimme a beer" analogy myself several times when discussing this subject; who the hell walks into a bar and says that? It would be like walking into a restaurant and ordering "food".
shareHe asked why do you care? You didn't answer him.
shareNo, he asked WHO cares, which he did answer. Try harder!
shareAnd when he asked who cares, he didn't want a show of hands. If one is going to respond to such a plea, one should give reasons. Otherwise, why would it be called a discussion board? To post on such a board is to engage in debate. Yet, this guy posted only to shut down debate. To respond to who cares with such banality as diversity of thought is pointless.
shareThe thing I liked about the product placement in this movie was that they weren't doing commercials within the movie. Papa John's was mentioned, and he even went to one in Iceland, but I didn't hear the taglines or how great the food is. E-Harmony was more of a humorous plot device than an ad, as it only really helped him when he was arrested in LA. I thought that as product plcements go, these were done well. It always bugs me when a car company sponsors a television show and at some point one of the characters talks about how much power they get from the engine, or how great the backup camera works.
shareI think it really let the film down. Papa Johns was okay but the eHarmony ads are terrible. I tried to show this film to friends because of thw great scenery etc - but the dating crap at the beginning put them off!
Have tried a second time... more successfully by showing a different friend it from the Greenland scenes onwards.
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