Comments on: Fictionalized Brands as Effective Product Placement

By: Product Displacement – Part of a DINU | eyecube

Product Displacement – Part of a DINU | eyecube — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:10:27 +0000

[...] My Name Is Earl and Chuck. As you would imagine, Rob Walker is all over this type of stuff. PSFK also picked up on Gladys (via Rob). At first glance, these fake brand product placements are, if [...]

By: Justin Kownacki

Justin Kownacki — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:13:41 +0000

I’d be surprised if Starbucks isn’t either funding the parody spots or trying to sue them.

On the upside, these fictional variations of existing brands not only create an in-joke, but they do so in a way that respects the fictional world / community built around these programs. In exchange for not disrupting / invalidating the fictional illusion, these companies are hoping viewers will appreciate their respect and sense of humor, and reward them with real-world purchases.

The layers of self-awareness necessary to execute this ad campaign successfully are actually pretty impressive…

By: Joe Johnson

Joe Johnson — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:19:34 +0000

So brands definitely aren’t paying for these parodies?

It reminds me a little bit of when Formula 1 banned tobacco advertising, and the following season the Jordan team were rocking ‘Buzzin Hornets’ in place of Benson and Hedges. That must have been almost a decade ago, interesting to see this stuff still going on.

Certainly I remember the pay-off for the audience as far as tapping into my cultural capital and being ‘in on the joke.’

By: Product Displacement – Part of a DINU « eyecube

Product Displacement – Part of a DINU « eyecube — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:01:54 +0000

By: Sarah Badr

Sarah Badr — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:15:13 +0000

Brilliant observations. Living in an age during which we’re constantly bombarded by brand advertising, we’ve become increasingly capable of paying it less attention. Beyond irony, it can be attributed to a combination of desensitization and annoyance: It’s easy to walk out of the room or mute the volume during a TV commercial to escape strategic increases in sound levels pushing PPM 6/+8dBm; similarly, Spotify’s music streaming application doesn’t allow muting during ad intervals, but wearing/removing headphones quickly does the trick.

To be honest, the last time I clicked on a banner ad was circa Y2K. But as a reluctant and impatient consumer of commercial media, I’m more inclined towards giving ‘product displacement’ a moment of thought because it entices with the opportunity — as Ms Santiago indicated — to reference knowledge, thus more intelligently engage trough implication and recognition. Thankfully, this opportunity also provides the catharsis I crave by allowing me to briefly mock the product when my ‘cultural capital’ is very much rooted in my disdain for advertising.