Why is "Product Placement" such a commonly criticized thing?

I don't mind product placement but I was watching some movie yesterday, and they walk into a McDonalds and say "oh, McDonalds". And then next scene they are riding a honda and there's a police radio voice over that says "they are driving a honda". At this point it's more intellect insulting than product placing.
 
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Xarpho said:
It's only obnoxious if it's used in a way that normal people wouldn't be doing. Unless you have an autistic character, announcing the full name/descriptions of products is a deal-killer, or placing an object in a way that would display the logo fully.
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If it’s merely product placement - having real-life products being in the background or being used by the characters (e.g. a character drinking a Coke, or eating pizza from a Domino’s box) then that’s completely fine. Honestly that’s less distracting than having wierd fake brands - looking at you Steins Gate!
 
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Oskar Dirlewanger said:
I don't mind product placement but I was watching some movie yesterday, and they walk into a McDonalds and say "oh, McDonalds". And then next scene they are riding a honda and there's a police radio voice over that says "they are driving a honda". At this point it's more intellect insulting than product placing.
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Was it "close up on the logo and commercial quality footage of the car" product placement or was it just police dispatch saying "Honda" because police dispatch will always give the make of the car when that information is available?

Gar For Archer said:
If it’s merely product placement - having real-life products being in the background or being used by the characters (e.g. a character drinking a Coke, or eating pizza from a Domino’s box) then that’s completely fine. Honestly that’s less distracting than having wierd fake brands - looking at you Steins Gate!
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Speaking of Coca-Cola, The Road (2009) had an instance where the filmmakers had to get star Viggo Mortensen himself to approach Coca-Cola and get special clearance to show a Coke can briefly in the film as Coca-Cola initially wasn't interested in letting them show the logo in a bleak post-apocalyptic film with scenes of cannibalism. Coca-Cola only approved because it was shown in a positive light, a small remnant of America as it was before whichever unspecified disasters killed most of the population, and, even then, you only get a brief glimpse at the logo.
 
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It's more an observation about modern life than of movies, but anytime a movie has to use a fake brand its 10x more damaging to believability. People way overeact to product placement in movies. 90% of the time its unnoticable and ultimately inconsequential save for the subtle grounding effect to the film and the implicit amount of advertising it was doing by merely existing. It's the last 10% that really shove it in your face that is annoying. I'm all for product placements in movies; in fact, I believe all movies should be allowed incidental product placement without legal reprecussion. Have a dasani bottle on a desk but with the logo torn a little, a coke bottle thats been crushed, or a box of Captain Crunch but its only the back of the box. Best way to portray the hellscape of the modern world.
 
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sasazuka said:
Was it "close up on the logo and commercial quality footage of the car" product placement or was it just police dispatch saying "Honda" because police dispatch will always give the make of the car when that information is available?
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Naturally it was a commercial like shot of the shiny car from the front with the logo in the center on the screen. But with the McDonalds they went for artistry and had the McDonalds logo reflect in the window of McDonalds they were in, so that the big McDonalds logo can literally take the entire screen.
 
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WhoBusTank69 said:
I had to put down my can of Royal Crown Cola to open this thread and all I feel besides being cheated is a thirst that can be quenched only by the faint and inoffensive imitation Coke taste of Royal Crown Cola.
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You forgot the Moon Pie.


IIRC these guys were big time hippies. So I guess they weren't paid off.

Edit: Never knew NRBQ's version was a cover. The song apparently goes back even further, to the early 1950s. 🤷‍♂️
 
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If I'm gonna watch anything, it better not be an extended commercial for crap I care little about and shit I refuse to outright buy, honestly. That's all product placement is, OP - a goddamm extended commercial where the actual thing that wants and NEEDS to, I don't know - ACTUALLY entertain me, as a viewer, should be doing and fucking isn't, in this exact case.
 
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It's because the things we buy are either relevant to us or hedonistic impulse buys. The latter which we'll memory hole for our convenience either because A) concept of returning what doesn't work has fallen flat, or B) people just throw away money so freely that it doesn't matter how expensive the next smartphone or gaming laptop is. Services will just pump our retinas with commercials whether we want them to or not in every way possible, because people only bitched while shitting themselves and doing nothing about it. We adhere to muscle memory of the things we give a shit about the most and do not for the things we don't.
 
Product placement can be alright especially if it furthers the plot in some way but nothing will date a show quite like a video game. Breaking bad sticks out in my mind, when Jesse was playing Rage. Not only was it a shit game, but he's playing it with a non-existent joystick-less gun controller and the show is set years before it even came out. The scene where he was playing that Sonic racing game wasn't nearly as bad because it at least showed how he was bonding with his girlfriend's son.
 
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It depends on the Product. i Still wanna have the Z3 from James Bond, and Golden Eye wasnt even that great...
 
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