Product placement doesn't bother me as much as the whole "FastForward - in association with..." at the start and end of every flippin' ad. break; Jake Humphreys using his own iPad at a Grand Prix to hold his scripts and notes doesn't bother me any more than reporters wearing their own 'North Face' apparel whilst doing a piece to camera <shrug>

Pete

+1

The only people who it'll affect are those dumb enough to be taken in by product placement.

Having had a play with the iPad F1 timing app over the weekend, I think he's probably pretty much justified to have it. Live timings, positions of cars on the track etc.. It's like having the race data display they get in the commentary booth with you all the time. Bloody impressive piece of work, frankly.

James Allen seems to like it too.

The only piece of product placement that has irked me recently was in the modern version of Casino Royale, where Bond was initially driving round in the (at the time) brand new Ford Mondeo. Like Bond would be seen dead in a car like that...

Jon

Agreed. As long as it doesn't lead to compromise then it doesn't bother me. I couldn't care less if Bond wears an Omega, Rolex, Breitling etc but it would look downright odd for him to be wearing a Casio.

Tarantino is the only director who could have gotten away with the watch scene to my mind. Maybe

Though why shouldn't Eastenders use product placement to help fund itself. Though if all the characters started driving the same care because there was a product placement requirement then it would look ridiculous. It would have to be in keeping with the show.

I have seen programmes where the logo is digitally masked out on some shots but not on others. You know what they are obscuring, so it seems really idiotic to hide the logo in the first place.

I have also seen car badges obscured, usually because there is an official car provider and other brands would be deemed unacceptable. This is an American phenomena, and it doesn't irk because who ever cuts out the masking material usually sticks to the shape of the badge being masked. We all know it's a Ford because the badge is that shape...

Been a while since I watched it, but I always assumed that was a hire car, as he's just stepped off a plane?? I know it's just fiction and all, but having a Hertz or Avis stocked with Aston Martins might be stretching it a bit

Anyway, didn't Ford provide all the vehicles for that movie - even the New Holland tractor he jumps into in the middle of the opening chase is a Ford-owned brand - hence the Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Jags etc... Even AstonMarton was owned (at the time) by Ford, I think.

Cheers, Pete

Yes it was fun working at their R&D HQ in Essex

All the cars they featured, Mazdas, Volvos, etc. - all owned by Ford at the time. This was the film that had a Ferrari and a Lamboghini land nose first in a paddy field at the end.

I was working at Gaydon a few summers back. That was fun too...

I bet it was
I have memories of a Ka with a cosworth V8 going around the test track at Dunton and a Jag with the second set of engine management chips installed being "tested" on a motorway late at night with a Police escort

As I've said before in similar threads in the past, the 15 minute ad-breaks on the non-BBC channels bother me more. I rather they used product placement in programmes instead. At the moment they just blur logo's out (albeit occasionally - MTV) or them up with their hands - even when it is so obvious what the product is.

I do find the sheer amount of coverage Apple products get a bit weird, but they seem to make news whatever they do - if the BBC didn't cover an Apple product and Sky or some other outlet did, they will have lost potential exposure I guess. Mind you, even security updates for OSX make news, which is hilarious.

One thing I noticed was that in the first series of The Wire they use Nikon cameras for all their stakeouts, following seasons, Canon. It is good when it's in the right place, but things like James Bond take the piss.