Product Placement

Plaissance addresses product placement as a relatively unethical phenomenon in media. In his chapter on transparency in Media Ethics, Plaissance describes product placement as a result of producers "not being fully honest about the nature of the content they're presenting to audiences" (Media Ethics, 66). While I can agree to some extent that product placement has an element of deception attached to it, I sympathize more with Samuel Turcotte's point of view that "there's a difference between reality and whoring to commercialism" (Media Ethics, 66).

In film and television, for the most part, the use of real commercial products is geared more towards maintaining authenticity rather than shameless advertising. It's very easy to tell when a product is being blatantly advertised and when it acts as a prop. The following scene from the movie Wayne's World perfectly satirizes the sort of point-blank product placement that serious filmmakers would never employ.

Plaissance makes it seem like consumers are helpless and unable to defend themselves from the grasp of advertisers. Like I mentioned before, most people can tell when something is being sold to them, and considering the heavily commercialized world we live in, I think it's become sort of an expectation that someone somewhere is trying to sell us something. Seeing E.T. eat a bag of Reese's Pieces isn't deception; it's replication of reality.

Media critic Edward Wasserman is cited by Plaissance as explaining that "the types of products written into a show really ought to be up to the writer" (Media Ethics, 66). The problem with that is that a lot of times it comes off as overly cheesy. Shows on Nickelodeon are notorious for creating parody products in order to avoid product placement. The Pear Company (a parody of Apple) and the Game Sphere (a parody of the Game Cube) are just two examples.

But while that may work in a sitcom or kid's show, it wouldn't feel right in more serious works of film and television. I don't necessarily see the harm in including a bag of Doritos in an episode of Orange is the New Black as opposed to a made-up brand. If it interferes with artistic integrity in terms of how the product can be used, then it's probably better to use a fictional product. However, if the commercial product will get the point across just the same, I don't see it as something to get too upset over.