fresnelly

There was a Canadian sitcom on back in the 70's, called King of Kensington, which didn't use any real products on set. As a result, scenes set in the kitchen or grocery store, were stocked with made-up cereals, canned goods, beverage and so on. You can still watch the show in syndication, and the fake products in the background look pretty ridiculous.

As long as the placements don't pull you out of the story, I'm fine with them. A realistic setting needs real products, and as long as they don't pull focus, it's no big deal. In fact, a clumsily masked product is as equally jarring as a clumsy placed one. Just imagine a group of actors sitting around a bar table all holding their beers awkwardly so you're unable make out the lable.

As Snowy said, glaring placement is obnoxious, so it's in the advertiser's interest to be subtle. For example, the product placement in The Apprentice is so overbearing that it's laughable. It's like watching your parents dance to hip hop.

For an more insidious example of subliminal placement, see Josie and the Pussycats. (OK, don't see that movie, just say that you did) Much fun is made at the expense of corporate sponsors and the big advertisers in the movie, but they still get plenty of screen time for their logos. In cases like this, you make fun of it at first, but when the novelty wears off and starts to wear you down, their messages start seeping into your brain.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life