Marketing Blurb has discussed product placement or branded entertainment on
numerous occasions. While the practice makes us uneasy, we agree the technique is a valid method of reaching an audience suffering from commercial message overload. Of course most product placement is visual and discrete, such as a product or brand logo appearing in the background of a scene. But according to
The Washington Post (free registration required,) The Screen Actors Guild is distressed over overt examples of product placement in scripted dialog. Here is the example used by the Post: “Sony Pictures made a deal with the NBC show "Medium" last season and the result was hardly subtle: Main characters Allison and Joe discuss going to see "Memoirs of a Geisha," walk by a poster for the movie and then run into acquaintances who enthuse, "Oh, we just saw that, you'll love it!" Cut to a commercial for: "Memoirs." While language like this does occur in real life,
Marketing Blurb would prefer product placement deals remain more discrete.
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