Avoiding Marketing
When reading about Astroturfing, I thought back about how many times I have seen products placed in a TV show or substitutes put into the show instead. There are countless shows that have used the "Lets" potato chips as a replacement for the name brand, as we can see by the two examples below. These bags are used as a way to avoid paying copyright fees to the big brands while still giving the feeling that they are the brands we know and love. They use the same colors, same type of lettering, and of course, hold the same product. While this is not the only example of avoiding copyright, it is one of the most common.
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| Source: Orange is the New Black |
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| Source: Community |
Advertising in TV Shows and Movies
The idea of astroturfing made me think of "Schitt's Creek", a Canadian TV show that became popular after being on Netflix. In this show, there is a moment where Alexis, one of the main characters, is trying to have a screening of her mother's new movie. As most things do in this series, everything went wrong. Crows attacked the audience and mayhem ensued. Alexis somehow is able to play this off as a PR stunt that she supposedly orchestrated to help hype up the movie. You can watch the clip here. It causes her to land a job with the streaming company, Interflix. While Alexis did not mean for anything to happen, she was able to capitalize on the 'successful screening' and the movie became an instant classic.
Advertising has become so prevalent that we do not always realize it is happening. It has become so ingrained in our society that it can be hard to know if we wanted to buy -that- specific brand of deodorant because we think it works well or because we briefly saw an ad for it online or in a show.
One of the most popular movie franchises of the last decade, The Avengers, is not immune from this, either. If you sit down and watch a Marvel movie with the intention of finding product placement, you will be surprised with how many you can find. It has happened so often that Disney+ now has product placement warnings on certain movies where it is common. Is Disney+ doing the right thing with these warnings or are they an unnecessary addition in this world where everything is an advertisement? After all, the movies had to be sponsored by someone.
Gaeriel, your thoughts on product placement are very well said. I particularly enjoyed your mentioning of Schitt's Creek (a show I love!). As with any 'good' comedy, the source of that show's humor are the painfully plausible scenarios depicted in each episode—it wouldn't be 'so' funny, if it wasn't so darn realistic!
ReplyDeleteGaeriel, What a intersting example to tie into astroturfing. I never looked at the scene in Schitt's Creek that way and now it makes sense. It is funny how ad placement and marketing is so prevalent in todays tv and movies that we rarely even notice it happening at the time.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your discussion about the Marvel Universe films providing warning for product placement. I watch one about each day on Disney+ and never even noticed until now. Personally, I do not find it necessary, because like you said, everything is an advertisement these days But ethically, I think it is a nice addition because it shows they put the public interest first. I also love your input on the astroturfing in Schitts Creek, I love that episode and never noticed how the situation was a unique take on astroturfing. Great read!
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