Product placement in movies: Subtle as they wanna be

I have mixed feelings about product placement in movies.  I think that if they are well done then they don’t distract us from the movie.  They are merely background; a part of the set.  It really gets my goat when they are extremely blatant and disrupt the flow a film. 

Now I undertand that movies need funding, and companies are just lining up to get their products in the next box office blockbuster, but it is important not to compromise the integrity of the film. To me it seems like they are just thrown in there carelessly, like the crew has pretty much wrapped filming and then they say, “wait we forgot to get the coke logo in our shot! ”  And what we get is the two main characters walking around the city with the red and white Coke logos around every corner.  It’s obnoxious and hilarious. 

Here is an example of poor product placement (look for it about ten seconds in)

The part that kills me is that he moves the can so we can see the label better.  I for one don’t see Peter Parker as a Dr. Pepper guy so that makes this scene all even less believable (less believable than a guy getting super powers? weird) to me. 

I think that good product placements enhance the storyline.  They should be woven seemlessly into the plot without the audience really noticing that they are there.  I have yet to see a film that does this gracefully.  Every Bond movie has a cool car in it.  They can put the car in the film, without the first couple scenes with the car looking like the opening to a car dealership ad. 

Here is a scene from the recent Bond Film “Casino Royale”

Now freeze the video at ten seconds and tell me that doesn’t look like a Ford commercial. The first time I saw this movie I got confused because I thought they spliced a reel 0f a commercial in with the movie.  I was genuinely concerned. 

Some movies accept that their sponsors are going to be a big part of the movie.  If a satirical approach is taken it can help ease the audiences mind when seeing these products.  Take this clip from Austin Powers:

They embrace the product placement and use it as a joke.  It may seem like a joke but the fact is Starbucks paid big bucks to be in the movie and they get a big endorsement from it reguardless. 

My hope is that one day product placements will become less obvious and I look forward to the new creative ways that they are written into movies.