[usrusr]

I take comfort in the hope that product placement actually works better when it is not implemented in that despicably crude way, and that eventually both sides of the transaction will learn to stay subtle.

If the cool hero uses a motorcycle to escape the evil henchmen I don't care much wether money was involved in selecting the brand of motorcycle. If he then spends a minute of screen time lecturing about the benefits of said brand, it should be considered a new category far beyond product placement.

[groovy2shoes]

Chuck had a rather infamous product placement for Subway in the second season that worked out pretty well. The placement itself was gratuitous and over-the-top, and it drew quite a bit of criticism from the press. Yet, I thought it worked well for comedic effect in the context of the show, especially considering the character involved and the contemporary absorption of Subway's ad campaign ("five dollar footlongs") into pop culture. Sure, I rolled my eyes at it, but I also had a good laugh because it was obvious that the show was self-aware in the way they did it.

Anyway, I only bring this up because, while I agree with you in principle, I think that in the right context, exaggerated product placements can be as palatable as subtle ones.

(Later on, when the show was being considered for cancellation, a massive fan campaign had hundreds of thousands if not millions of fans getting themselves some footlongs to eat during the season finale and mailing the receipts to NBC, thus saving the show for three more seasons).

[freehunter]

I would really rather the characters use real-life brands than obviously fake nonsense brands. When someone uses a MobTel phone to call 555-555-5555 and request pizza from Little Kaisers, it seriously drags me out of the moment.

If they're using a Samsung, eh who cares. My brother has the same phone, I can relate to that.