Papa Johns Cinnabon McDonalds eHarmony
I really liked this film, but the product placement was over the top.
Minus one star for that.
I have never understood why people get annoyed by what is or may seem to be product placement. If product placement in films was strictly verboten you would never see any brands whatsoever. A car would have to be disguised. Same for a pack of cigarettes or a phone, all making the film appear unrealistic. A couple of guys eating a Cinnabon in the film didn't bother me in the least nor made me desire an overpriced concoction made of lard, sugar and flour.
"He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator."
Well, maybe you ought to take out a second and try to get under the skin of someone who *is* annoyed by product placement.
Here's a place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4wh_mc8hRE
My feeling is this: I can understand that a filmmaker may decide to pitch identification with the actor on the basis of the view that, like you, this character also partakes of the ritual of consumption of consumer products. Now, most people have internalized the fact of the commercial nature of that ritual, to the point where they don't even think of the fact that putting a real-world product in the film means budget support for the producers of that film. But not every consumer of film has made that internalization, and the best filmmakers don't want to alienate those folks.
In other words, people who hate product placement (like David Lynch) fully understand and deeply feel that such placement drags in its train this secondary (crass commercial, anti-)esthetic effect. I understand that you may not have this response, but try to understand those who do.
And here's an example of a filmmaker who is sensitive to this: Tarantino. He created fake brands (Red Apple Cigarettes, Big Kahuna Burger), expressly so that he could have characters participating in the ritual of consumption without alienating those viewers--or his own danged self.
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And I'd like that. But that 5h1t ain't the truth. --Jules Winnfield
i would view tarantino a huge dork just for that simple fact. having to create new brands just so a film doesn't get accused of being one giant commercial... wait... i gotta get my eyes unstuck, they just rolled so far back that it hurts.
the movie does NOT hide the idea that this might be product placement of sorts in the advertising. Those tarantino's and lynch's of the world can just stick to their non-commercial-movie viewing and avoid this. walter mitty works at LIFE. every friggin time he interacts with anyone at work, LIFE is prominently displayed. when he gets on a plane, it is "air greenland". it's just plain silly, and gets under my skin, to think that a tarantino would feel the need to create a non-brand airline.
must be hard for you folks to even look at a bus, cab, walk through an airport, do anything outside of your own abode.
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Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!
Must be hard for you folks to even look at a bus, cab, walk through an airport, do anything outside of your own abode.
Not hard at all, because my life is a movie which happens to feature (for example) a burger chain called "McDonalds", etc. That's exactly the point! I need to have the world I see in the movie theater distinct from my world. More nuanced; I *do* expect the filmmaker to give me things I can hang my hat on; I just don't want those pegs to be product logos.
Hopefully this helps get you a little closer.
Heck! Some folks *do* have trouble with the commercialization of their worlds! Walking into a movie theater and seeing the tainting of even *that* world is sorta like "the last straw."
Maybe my perspective is a bit skewed by the fact that I *do* have a problem with the commercialization of the world. It hems people in; would, if it could, put them in little boxes, utterly devoid of real romance, in which they become conveniently controlled production/consumption units. And "the movies" is supposed to be a bastion of romance! You can tell who the *real* romantic filmmakers are: They eschew product placement, for this very reason.
Fun fact: I lived in the U.S. until 2004, when I turned 49, and never ate a McDonald's burger 'til I was in Taiwan, about two years later. Haven't had one since. I hated the whole McDonalds concept from the very get-go, when the first one got built in my neighborhood and Ronald, et.al. started popping up on TV, when I was a wee tad.
Have a look at this cartoon by Quino. It's a very clever zing off the theme of product ubiquity.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=708425962531749&l=6f776e16cc
(it's been repurposed as a computer desktop (16x9)).
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And I'd like that. But that 5h1t ain't the truth. --Jules Winnfield share
i can say that i'm not as hung up on whether or not there is a mcd being eaten in a movie.
on that note, i've eaten mcd in argentina. i was impressed (on mcd level). i did it as a "must see what is on this menu"... that and the fact that i'm american and eat dinner around 6ish while argentinians eat at 11;00 pm. i have seen the menus in different countries, i would not be surprised to find something a little (or a lot) off from what mcds is here.
"coming to america" is a prime example of product placement v. made up branding. mcdowell's is a knock off, tongue in cheek, it fits with the story though. they could have made it any branding knockoff. they acknowledge that it is a brand knock off and it is one of many jokes inside of the movie. this movie happened to use papa johns. it could have used sven's pizza parlour, but that's a ton less believable since he's sitting in iceland and referring to his teenage years in the US. they'd have to have extra (useless) dialogue to explain that there was a "sven's" where he grew up. all the while, we are going to wonder if this is code for pizza hut or what not because the filmmakers were catering to the lawyers who said "thou shalt not" or the anti-commercial crowd who said "thou better not"
oh... and none of that got me any closer. these folks really need to stick to the arthouse and avoid hollywood movies. it isn't going to get any better.
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Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!