So what?

And being a sheep, being told what you would enjoy, using subliminal messages, lulling you into stupidity, into forcing you to buy it, and you think you made those choices yourself. Sure you did.

.;*We Live Inside A Dream*;.

I think the point is it's just counter-productive. Take James Bond films, 10-20 minutes are wasted of film time zooming into a logo. The car chases nowadays also are basically 15 minute car adverts too, making the car look cool from angle whilst making sure we are regularly informed of the brand and make of the car. We wouldn't tolerate it in any other art form, so why film? I can't think of anything worse than artists releasing songs that they have sold a line to Pepsi for instance.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine

For me, excessive product placements and advertisements make our world seem so artificial. Like this movie seems to be pointing out, everything has a product attached to it now days. It's like nothing is sacred anymore... everything is connected with an attempt to get people to buy things.

And you say so what? Why is this bad? Like I pointed out, it makes things seem less sacred and more artificial. Also, it increases the overall greed of our society. With constant advertisements highlighting happy people using various products, people everywhere, whether they want admit it or not, say "hey look, those people are happy...I want to be happy too, so I'll buy that product and join the parade". Do they really NEED those things? Maybe sometimes... Do they NEED all those things? I think not.

Then we're all stuck forging our money to already rich cooperate fools who hoard their money amongst themselves, instead of possibly helping the less fortunate people around us who need it much more. Also, I believe it decreases our level of freedom. People, though still able to make their own decisions, are way too influenced by the status quo advertisements create. They've set everyone inline to either buy the "cool things" and fit in, or buy what you can and be somewhat of an outcast. And do all these THINGS really matter? Hell naw, yet advertisements make these THINGS seems as if they do.

As for the "Anti American" comment above, and that people like me "hate America". I love America, I'm just sad to see where it's ended up right now. And no, I will not "sit down and shut up" you jAck a$Z fool.

don't ask me. i don't give a rat's ass about 'the commercialization of art'.
though to be honest that's also because my opinion of 'art' isn't very high: most of it is self-indulgent crap that whines about the more popular self-indulgent crap in the mass-media. no humor, no curiosity, much laziness, lots of sheep with terrible taste who worship the whole art-thingy hoping to get some second-hand glory

I agree with the OP...I don't find product placement in entertainment a big issue. Another poster on this board makes a good point about product placement: it can help ground a scene in reality. And if it ever gets unbearably heavy-handed, a few flops at the box office will force a quick self-correction.

I also don't have a problem with the larger issue here, namely the connection between commerce and art. Sure, a lot of artistic abuses have been committed in the name of ensuring profits by pleasing the lowest common denominator, but business concerns have also forced artists to create for the public instead of just for themselves and their immediate aesthetic family members (e.g. critics, academics and elitist patrons). Take a look at what happened to the fine arts (especially poetry) after the first world war, when the "public" was no longer considered an important part of the audience. The navel-gazing to works-of-genius ratio skyrocketed.

Furthermore, I don't, in general, have a big problem with advertising. As long as consumer rights to fairness and truthfulness are being protected and it's being kept out of highly inappropriate places, I think advertising is a legitimate element of business and even a legitimate part of our culture, with a dynamic and mostly positive relationship to contemporary popular art.

As for product placement, or any advertising, that "brain-washes" consumers...well...as Forrest Gump's mother sort of used to say: gullible is as gullible does. At the end of the day, there's not much you can do to protect the congenitally foolish.

In my opinion filmmakers should not rely on product placement in movies for funding.
As with magazines with advertisements they will have a hard time being critical to the funding source and maintaining integrity as they balance that line.

But... I think this movie is about 30-40 years too late. Product placement in movies and magazines has been a problem for that long really.
What they should have focused attention on is the commercialization of the internet where people are shown advertisements constantly.

Neither of this is a problem for a trained mind, but our children are being bombarded with cra... ehhh... and they are unknowingly (to themselves and the parents) being molded into brand-dependent corporate machines.


Sheep or no sheep, big movies make enough money without product placement and companies pushing out their inferior products on the silver screen.
...a point well taken although 40 years too late! When will they scrutinize the internet (and IMDB) commercials? In 40 years time? :D

/J

Product Placement is nothing but a redundant, filler criticism made up by Ivory Tower twits looking for something to complain about.

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