Product placement displaces artistic integrity
Have you every wondered if there's anything that's not for sale in this day and age? I used to think artistic integrity wasn't, but who knows that it won't be available on the Shopping Channel sometime soon.
Earlier this year I took in the comic-inspired Iron Man 2 (now available on DVD), and while it scores above average within its genre, I was somewhat distracted by its heavy-handed use of product placement (hellooo, Audi R8 Spyder). For those who are keeping track, no less than 54 brands were featured to one degree or another.
For those unfamiliar with the term, product placement refers to the intentional display of brand name merchandise in a given medium, in this case film, to promote its sale and to increase its maker's corporate visibility. Think back to E.T.'s Reese's Pieces, or Ray-Ban sunglasses in the Men in Black franchise. More recently, think of the Chevy Camaro (and numerous other GM products) in the Transformers movies.
Product placement traces back at least half a century. I recall "The Beverly Hillbillies" in the 1960s and watching Jethro polish off a mammoth mixing bowl filled with cereal from a conspicuously placed box of Corn Flakes. It seems to me that after the '60s, product integration (the TV term) declined in frequency. In this decade, though, it's made a comeback on TV (what are those "Americal Idol" judges drinking?), and will predictably increase with the rising popularity of digital recording services, like TiVo, that enable viewers to edit out traditional commercials.
I had hoped film would hold out against such commercial excess. I was wrong. The turning point, from my perspective, came with the release of Castaway (2000) with Tom Hanks. Beyond the amusing personification of Wilson (Hanks's inert but loveable Man Friday) to promote a volleyball brand name, Castaway came across as a numbingly long endorsement of FedEx. Within the next few years, Stephen Spielberg's Minority Report and Michael Bay's The Island featured an embarrassing number of visible brand names. Iron Man 2's similarities in this regard, leads me to wonder if big budget sci-fi thrillers are more apt to seek out corporate sponsors in order to offset their huge production costs.
Lest we despair that everyone's on the take, this summer's big budget sci-fi thriller, Inception, proved to be virtually brand free. The film's director, Christopher Nolan, is noteworthy for eschewing product promotion even when such funding would increase the film's profitability. Nolan's artistic integrity is visible in all of his films, including such commercial juggernauts as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
You might well ask if there is a compromise position on this issue. After all, the use of real products as props in movies can provide a necessary sense of realism in a brand conscious society. Toy Story 3 would not have the same impact if Ken and Barbie or Mr. Potato Head were excluded from the toy line-up. It is noteworthy, however, that the two biggest stars of the film, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, are fictionalized toy brands.
A good filmmaker integrates brand-name props seamlessly, but it's not hard to cross the line and over-focus on a brand name. The camera's lingering love of the Audi Spyder in Iron Man 2, can distract viewers from the dramatic purpose of the scene in which it appears. To put it in another context, imagine if Da Vinci was pressured to paint the Mona Lisa holding a glass of Coke or if Whistler's Mother was seated in a La-Z-Boy and you'll get the picture.
In the film world, would it be so hard to believe that some of the best "takes" in a day's shooting on set might have to be discarded because the product logo was turned slightly the wrong way? Are Cadillac and Lexus about to okay any scene in which it might appear their vehicles are unsafe? Let's not kid ourselves. If sponsors pay money, they will have their say—Mammon is an uncompromising taskmaster.
Artistic integrity means storytellers have the freedom to tell their tales in any way that the story demands. Kudos go out to those movie producers who choose not to drink the corporate Kool-aid. Film lovers everywhere thank you.
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