Ben
2nd February 2008, 06:26 PM
I ended up watching Cloverfield today. The film itself was okay, a bit Blair Witch for my liking, but what really rubbed me up the wrong way was the damn product placement.
And there was only one brand, so far as I could tell, behind the product placement. Nokia. Nokia Nokia Nokia! Right from the very first few moments there are Nokia handsets. There are Nokia posters. Then, in the midst of the branding madness, the lead character's battery runs flat so he spends what feels like an eternity looking at an entire wall of official Nokia accessories in an electronics shop and then steals a Nokia emergency charger.
Now, Sony Ericsson's branding in Casino Royale pissed me off a little... but it was subtle compared to this. This was full on OTT branding and Nokia should be ashamed of themselves. It was like one of those Orange 'don't let your mobile ruin the move' parodies, but it was actually happening before my very eyes!
A word of advice to companies seeking product placement on television. It has to be subtle. There's a laptop in the piece? Make it your one. A telly? Sure. But don't insist that your brand gets a certain amount of camera time, and certainly don't change the story to fit around your bloody accessories selection!
And there was only one brand, so far as I could tell, behind the product placement. Nokia. Nokia Nokia Nokia! Right from the very first few moments there are Nokia handsets. There are Nokia posters. Then, in the midst of the branding madness, the lead character's battery runs flat so he spends what feels like an eternity looking at an entire wall of official Nokia accessories in an electronics shop and then steals a Nokia emergency charger.
Now, Sony Ericsson's branding in Casino Royale pissed me off a little... but it was subtle compared to this. This was full on OTT branding and Nokia should be ashamed of themselves. It was like one of those Orange 'don't let your mobile ruin the move' parodies, but it was actually happening before my very eyes!
A word of advice to companies seeking product placement on television. It has to be subtle. There's a laptop in the piece? Make it your one. A telly? Sure. But don't insist that your brand gets a certain amount of camera time, and certainly don't change the story to fit around your bloody accessories selection!