Defiance - TV Show

[Thorin]

The Twilight books were not involved in product placement - as far as I know this was just an author trying to flesh out the world.  Porsche and Mercedes are mentioned several times, to show how rich the rich kids are at the school.  In the movies, they make sure to show the Volvo nameplate (and not those of other cars) and full-length shots of the of the Volvos used by the characters.  This was done after the studio approached Volvo and said, "Your brand is named in the book, would you like to pay to have your product showcased?"

So you also hated the dukes of hazard, knight rider, knight rider 2000, herbie, bond films, viper cannonball run and the back to the future movies?

Dukes, Knight Rider, Herbie, Cannonball Run, the Bond films, and Back to the Future didn't have marketing speak delivered as part of the show.  In Knight Rider and Herbie the cars became hero cars, but they weren't brought out at car shows before the show even aired - that is, the show was more important, not the car.  In the case of Defiance, the car (the product) is more important as it was shown off before the show came out.

Then there is Transformers (all 3 movies), Batman, Bad Boys, Italian Job, Transporter (all movies)... lol its nothing new to do sponsorship, blatant sponsorship in a movie when it comes to cars.

Bones TV show is really bad at promoting Toyotas; they will frequently have discussions about features of a Toyota car or vehicle, promoting hands free parking, millage, etc between Bones and Booth.  Hawaii Five O (both versions as per your previous post) also are heavy car advertisers.

Its one of those things that I can't fault a TV show IMO.  Like Lazy pointed out, whether it is from downloads or PVRs, lots of people simply do not watch commercials anymore so marketing is going to find other ways to advertise brands, logos and models.

Transformers, Batman, Bad Boys, The Italian Job, Transporter, all of these I feel the same about as the ones Lazy pointed out.  While there is product placement, the show is about the show, not about the product.  As for Bones, I don't watch it but characters discussing the fuel economy of a car without a really good reason would drive me batty.

Now, I listen to Those Old Radio Shows on 630 CHED quite frequently, and I can tell you that product placement was way more blatant in the late 50s than it has been for the last twenty years.  Like, characters breaking the fourth wall to tell you all about new Palmolive Dish Detergent, and it's really jarring.  When I see shows that put the product first and the show second, I worry we're returning to those days.

At the same time, I don't mind at all subtle product placement.  We need computers in an office, hey they're all Dell or Apple and the workers are clicking away diligently.  We need a fleet of cars for the undercover cops, the fleet manager bought them all from Chevy.  We have a scene with rich kids' luggage getting searched at the airport, a couple of the pairs of jeans in the pile happen to have their Guess logo facing towards the camera.  Some crooks are scheming how to rob a bank and get pizza delivered, and they happen to have ordered from Domino's.  Some kids are walking through the mall discussing life and one of them buys a pop and it happens to be from a Pepsi vending machine.

Notice in all those scenarios the scene made sense, the characters were doing something that made sense for their characters, and we just happen to be shown the logo.  It's all about the presentation.

[Darren Dirt]

Dukes, Knight Rider, Herbie, Cannonball Run, the Bond films, and Back to the Future didn't have marketing speak delivered as part of the show.

Ummm...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xteH6y0Mr0k

kinda close. Not exactly full of the current slogans at the time, but MJF was in Pepsi commercials at the time, IIRC.

But you're right, if it's logically coherent at the time of the visual presentation (or the character dialog -- such as Michael Scott suggesting the DM staff head over to Chili's* at lunchtime) then it's not nearly as jarring as the live talk show host interupting a conversation to look at the camera and promote Ovaltine or Fred Flintstone waving a cigarette in your face...





*although he DID sing the "I want your baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back ribs" song iirc

[Melbosa]

OK I get now the deliverable can be a problem.  I am trying to see where the product deliverable was in the Pilot of Defiance or in the Game?   The game has Dodge Car and a Dodge Quad.  The show had a Dodge Car that I remember, but didn't notice any discussions about Dodge Vehicles or Buy Dodge ad in the TV Show.  So I thought we were debating the fact that Dodge obviously sponsored the show/game.

Transformers was so bad at making sure you saw the Chev symbol on the front Gril of most car shots I immediately picked up on the product placement and sales push in the movie.  I didn't see that much of an iconic pan over the Dodge in Defiance, but perhaps it is coming in future episodes that the media has seen but I haven't.

So, I was a little tired watching the Pilot, what did I miss in regard to the Dodge Propaganda?

[Lazybones]

I don't think the Car even appeared in the pilot.  I think this is nerd rage over the car appearing in external auto marketing first.

[Thorin]

You didn't expand my spoiler tag?  It has a link that explains exactly when the car will be revealed.  They discuss how this car is gonna add a bunch to the series and it's gonna become a hero and all that.  "The vehicles are integrated into the storylines [< exact timing removed >], becoming main characters in the story".

If they just put in the car and showed it's brand plate and didn't do announcements and displays at car shows and say the cars are going to be "main characters", it wouldn't bother me at all.

Transformers originally wanted a New Beetle for Bumblebee but Volkswagen refused.  Then the producers turned to Chevrolet and its Camaro.  It also features a Ford Mustang.  We didn't have to listen about fuel economy or comfort or 0-60 times for either of these cars, and the only reason they were heroes / villains is because Transformers is about cars and other vehicles that transform into robots.  What is Defiance about, cars that save the post-apocalyptic world?

Yeah, maybe it's nerd rage or maybe I just don't like shows that are overtly advertising vessels.

[Mr. Analog]

Not sure if this is an actual thing yet (I assume it is) but there was an article in 2011 about a company that was gearing up to make product placement something that could be updated after post production to ensure that even if sponsors changed the content could be updated with the latest product placements.

http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/08/16/digital-technology-and-the-re-birth-of-product-placement/

[Darren Dirt]

Not sure if this is an actual thing yet (I assume it is) but there was an article in 2011 about a company that was gearing up to make product placement something that could be updated after post production to ensure that even if sponsors changed the content could be updated with the latest product placements.

http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/08/16/digital-technology-and-the-re-birth-of-product-placement/

Yes folks, we are in the present day have inexpensive tech that is able to in real-time fulfill the disturbing future depicted in The Running Man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbRdEyPbeSE#t=3m23s

[Melbosa]

You didn't expand my spoiler tag?

I did.  Just thought the issue was with it in the show itself.  I better understand what bothers you now.  Doesn't bother me I guess as long as it doesn't become an advertisement in my TV show (it can be showcased, but if they start doing detailed stats or sales pitches then that will bother me).

Bones kinda does this in the show, but they usually do with some humour or situation that glosses it over.  I still notice and am a bit bothered though when they do.

[Darren Dirt]

Bones kinda does this in the show, but they usually do with some humour or situation that glosses it over.  I still notice and am a bit bothered though when they do.

If by "kinda" you mean it's usually at the top of the list* when web forum posts / blogs discuss PP in tv shows. (Apparently.)

Daisy (looking around interior of car): Why do you drive a minivan? Do you have kids that we don?t know about?
Angela: I?m an artist, Daisy, and the Sienna has plenty of room, plus I stink at parallel parking and that back-up camera thing is like the invention of the century.

Although Google for tv shows with most product placement came up with some far worse offenders, past and present:

http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-some-of-tvs-best-product-placements-2012-3?op=1








I got some chuckles last week though...
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=today+now!+7-up+10





* (along with Fringe and Chuck)

[Melbosa]

If by "kinda" you mean it's usually at the top of the list* when web forum posts / blogs discuss PP in tv shows. (Apparently.)

Nope I meant kinda as someone whom casually watches the show and doesn't pay too much attention so couldn't gauge for sure if it was a real issue, so used kinda to imply I think they sorta do.  But I see you mean "they do"