They're Getting Bolder

Remember back when 'product placement' was one of those terms that only people who worked in entertainment would know? We could watch movies and be mildly surprised when we saw one of the people onscreen drinking out of a Dunkin Donuts cup, thinking that it was just a coincidence - completely unaware that the reality was Dunkin had paid millions upon millions of dollars to have their cup onscreen for 30 seconds. If the actor was driving a new Mustang we figured it was because the director loved the imagery of a classic American muscle car and never suspected it was because Ford was anxious to start pimping next year's models. I miss those days, because now people are just becoming blatant with product placement in TV and movies.

I get that with the rise of DVRs more people started skipping commercials and so advertising people had to get more creative. It started with logos becoming clearer, bigger and easier to read in the background of scenes. I was fine with that. But, somewhere along the way people just started blatantly putting ads in the middle of television shows. A couple months ago an episode of Bones may as well have been an hour-long commercial for Avatar. Yesterday I was watching Human Target when a commercial for the new Chevy Camaro broke out in the first three minutes. They did everything but begin talking about sticker price. But the worst was when I was watching a show and the actor had dubbed in a line (you can always tell the dubbed in lines, cause they sound just off enough to notice) specifically to mention how roomy her new Toyota was. Seriously, this is getting out of hand. I don't care about products being precisely placed around a movie set, but shows are already down to 44 minutes with the commercials, don't cut into that time further by putting commercials in the dialog.

-So, not that I want to gross you out with details, but after reading the excerpts of the new Tiger Woods "Vanity Fair" article, I bet those guys working for the "National Enquirer" are really proud of themselves and what they do. They probably went to college and got degrees and everything. Nice use of that journalism education.

-Driving around today I saw a sign saying that a water ban was in effect and that people shouldn't be watering their lawn on odd-numbered days. I have to figure that's an old sign. No one would be dumb enough to put that up when roads are still closed because of flooding, right?