Flave

The blatant ads for the new movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" in last night's ep had me fuming! I can't remember a more blatant and even brazen example of product placement.

I think new broadcast rules are in order before this really gets out of hand. Any ad that is worked into a story line should be clearly identified as such. Or, even better, the whole concept should be shit-canned (but I'm sure not holding my breath).

I will not condone this behaviour and will personally boycott this movie (I *had* intended to go see it). I encourage others to do the same.

Spring Roll

I don't follow Medium, but could you tell me what they did exactly?

Morf

Why?

I find it more realistic to see people drinking Coke, not Cola. I don't give a shit if a character says they are going to go see Memoirs of a Geisha or say that they are going to take a spin in their new Ford. Real people mention real products all of the time.

Personally, I'd rather see more product placement in television instead of more commercial breaks. Granted, I don't want characters pausing, holding up a box of Folgers crystals and looking at the camera saying "Mmm... fresh roasted," but casual mentions and displays of products is 100% ok by me.

I didn't see Medium, so perhaps the product placement you mentioned was indeed very blatant and took you out of the moment - if so, I agree that those types of promotion are uncalled for.

taa455

I prefer product placement over longer commercial breaks, as long as it doesn't get way out of hand.

rfduncan

Here's what happened Joe Dubois (Jake Weber) asked wife Allision (Patricia Arquette) if she wanted to see Geisha since she was a big fan of the book. They went to the theater to see it (poster in background while conversation with another couple who'd just seen it ensued). Then NBC popped up a little logo on the bottom of the screen saying "Stay tuned for a special sneak peek of GEISHA during MEDIUM." The trailer was the same one I'd seen in the theaters. It wasn't that blatant IMO, but what I don't understand is how it happened. Medium is a Paramount production while Geisha is Columbia/Sony/Dreamworks/Amblin.

BTW next week's Medium has a blatant plug for TV Guide - which you have to buy to get your 3D glasses so you can "experience the visions the way Allison sees them!"

Cusm

This is almost as bad as the episode of Seinfeld with Shindler's List. I swear they must have said the name of the movie 50 times.

WhoGirl

Why would an advertisement in 'Medium' of a movie that you *want* to see make you *not* want to see it anymore? Sounds kind of silly if you ask me.

It didn't seem too blatant or even mentioned to the point of overkill in the show. It was a sponsor that also happens to be an upcoming movie. I think it's cool that they were seeing a movie that's actually going to be out soon, rather than something that was out a few months ago. It makes it feel like it's more current, rather than dated a few months back.

Would you have preferred if it were called "Chronicles of a Concubine" ?

sjrab16

I actually did not have a problem with it. I agree that are going to see more product placements with Tivos becoming more and more popular. However if it gets bad then people will just not watch, at least I will not watch.