http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22066153


This is what the top image looked like before the advert was added.

I saw that and you know what irked me? This paragraph:



So many things wrong with it.

The choice of T/A was last minute. Glen Larson was originally going to go for a Corvette (like Face drove in the A-Team) but there was a train derailed which had been carrying T/As. So GMC let Larson buy them cheaply (IIRC with the proviso that they must be destroyed thereafter and not sold to the public) and I think he bought 11 of them.

Further, people started going to Pontiac dealerships and asking for T/A's like the one in Knight Rider and were disappointed when they couldn't buy one with all the stuff fitted like Turbo Boost! In turn, GMC asked Larson to stop referencing the car as a T/A. Hence in Season 1, KITT was referred to as a "trans-am" and from season 2 onwards, as a "T-top".

Product placement happens a lot. Look at the numbers of Apple iMacs, MacBookPro or iPads that appear in TV shows.

Macs have appeared in films and TV shows for years as they dominate the media industry and the look good. This is not a new thing.

Yes they do look good, but that was not why I bought mine.

I believe it was LA Law that used Acorn machines because their displays could be tuned easily to match the sync rate of the cameras. The result was that the CRT screens at the time did not flicker horribly when on TV. At the time, this was a feat that most other computers could not do (helped by the fact that Acorn systems were designed for output to TV as well as other forms of display).

However, having Acorn’s kit on prominent display on a popular USA TV show didn’t do much to help their fortunes.

I really couldn't be fussed about this.
If it's being written into the script, then I'd be bothered by it.
As it is, it's just set dressing.
What would grind my gears is if they start inserting placement into older shows. A digitally remastered X-Files perhaps, with things comp'ed in. Bah and humbug to that notion.

I think there is a spot of dishonesty about them. Those items were not there at the time of shooting. They do nothing for the set dressing other than provide a place for adverts to be hung. The objects can be swapped around so that transmission A could differ from transmission B, or even from territory to territory.

If done well, they could match the shadows and lighting and camera movements, but I expect it will be done as cheaply as possible, so they will be obviously placed.

Well, it is advertising after all.



Looking at the example in the OP, there's nothing that offensive about it. It's a bus shelter in the background. If it was a large A1 ad for Pfizer being given prominence in something like Doctors, or if an banner for Michelin tyres suddenly appeared in the Top Gear studio, then it all depends on how it's framed and so forth. High in the background is rather different to being draped across the front of their staging for the interviews, for instance.



Maybe, maybe not - that'll need to be seen. Certainly this is an area that needs addressing and regulating.

More advertising?! Yes please!

It would be lovely if they could target my own personal tastes, and perhaps text me a link while I'm watching the show so I can find out more

This from the article:

That's awesome! I must get the app now.

All the programs I've seen lately, the computers, whether Apple, Dell or whatever, have had custom logos placed over the manufacturers logos... You can see it is a MacBook or an iPad, but there is no Apple logo in sight, silly.

The soaps over here aren't allowed to use product placement, so they actually have a whole department that takes common brands and "skins" them with new names that don't exist, whether it is a cereal, a phone or a computer..

Much like a lot of The Big Bang Theory props then.
A lot of the US shows cover or mask the manufacturer logos.