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It is common practice these days to
plave conspicuously branded products
in films as a marketing tool.
Hollywood studios have product
placement departments which handle
placement deals, and in turn actors
are clad in brand-name clothes,
drinking brand-name coffee and using
brand-name computers
to save the world.
Unfortunately for this industry,
product placement does not translate
well into the Star Wars universe, and
consequently they have to miss out on
one of the most lucrative marketing
opportunities in history: the Star
Wars prequels, with their guaranteed
massive audience.
One way around this would be to
backdate corporate logos and products
into ancient, archetypal symbols of
virtues and powers. Take, for
example, Nike. If Jedi knights were
shown to be wearing Air Jordans
during their lightsaber duels, it
would look ridiculously cheesy.
However, if they are wearing custom
footwear which looks like a stylised,
otherworldly equivalent of Nike
sneakers, it would work. Similarly,
the Nike logo on Jedi robes would be
too blatant, but imagine if there
were a series of ancient glyphs
representing Jedi virtues: a narrow
triangle pointing up-and-right for
excellence, a happy curved line for
harmony, and so on. These glyphs
would just happen to combine into
elements of the Nike logo, a point
which could be omitted from the movie
and brought home in ads.
Other sponsors could be brought on
board similarly; our heroes could
stop to eat in a red-and-yellow alien
eatery shaped like a golden arch;
looking nothing like McDonalds, but
imprinting the salient features of
the McDonalds logo on the minds of
viewers, to better associate the
movie franchise with the fast-food
franchise. Apple could be brought in
with a computer-screen/HUD layout
modelled on the Macintosh (icons down
the right, bar up the top), albeit
with different elements, and possibly
an altered version of the Mac startup
sound emanating from the fantastic
machine.
The good thing about this approach is
that it avoids a backlash. Those
sufficiently cynical to see through
this would already be opposed to the
Star Wars franchise, and in fact
would probably be making sarcastic
suggestions about the prequels on web
sites, so there would be no loss
incurred.
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[insert Jar Jar bashing here] |
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If nothing else, the light sabres should have the halfbakery logo on the handle. |
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If you think about it, Star Wars is one big product placement for Star Wars products. |
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You are right centauri, in more ways than one.... |
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If you have a large enough TV, and a good VCR, you can see something quite interesting in 'A New Hope': |
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The rebel cruiser at the beginning actually has a movie poster for A New Hope in the cockpit -- you can see it through the window. |
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I've heard of that, but I won't have that kind of hardware until the three sequels are released (ie. never). |
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By the way, there is that urban legend about a bored ship choreographer who placed a shoe in a climactic Return of the Jedi space battle. I wonder what brand it's supposed to be. |
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The David Mamet comedy/satire "State and Main" has a product placement puzzle as one of many problems dogging a near-bankrupt movie production. The movie: A 19th century romance in New England.
The only product placement sponsor available: an e-business site named "bazoomer.com". |
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Maybelline or Avon really missed a chance when they didn't have Darth Makeup bust out with a compact and touch up his mug, while waiting behind those goofy force fields... |
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jutta, if only they staged their romance on Mars. They could have been sponsored by barsoomer.com. |
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I think it's funny how much of everyday life is omitted from Star Wars. |
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Imagine how silly it would look if, during the middle of one of their conversations, either Luke or Ben pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a lightsaber. |
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Another thing... either my mind is fuzzy, but is there *anyone* in the three movies that wears glasses? |
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Wes: No glasses to be seen, unless you count protective goggles. I think most of the stormtroopers could have used some vision correction, though. |
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Well the only food I can remember seeing in the original trilogy was when Yoda nicked Luke's pepperami (well that's what it looks like) so maybe pepperami's in the future are completely used up by the body and there are therefore no waste products from it. Or it's made up of an anti-laxative, nutrients and a local anathestic with a protective covering which breaks down and lets out the anathestic inside the body when it reaches the right spot. You can guess which is the right spot. |
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"If you have a large enough TV, and a good VCR, you can see something quite interesting in 'A New Hope':" Wes- Just how big a TV are we talking about here? Would be interested to see this! |
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centauri: "insert Jar Jar bashing here" |
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Apparently some wag has produced a DVD of `The Phantom Menace` (still think that sounds like an episode of scooby doo), subtitled v1.1.
Jar Jar has been removed; also, you dont hear the kid shouting `yipee` or `yahoo` or whatever (sorry, but i`ve not seen it so i dont really know what i`m talking about)! |
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[Pallex], you're probably referring to "The Phantom Edit", which has been discussed and linked to in an idea elsewhere on the site. |
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Interesting thought, ACB, but how about approaching it from the other direction? If I was George Lucas, I would be seeding the movies with new, unused logos and new product ideas, then renting out the rights to them later, to avaricious entrepreneurs. For instance, how about an Jedi shoe or tunic with a particular logo previously unseen on Eath. |
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The reason they dont have any product placement in Star Wars is for realism. In the future there are no marketing people because natural selection will have weeded them out. |
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Besides, no one would want to work for the Empire's marketing devision with Vader on the executive. You saw what happened to those generals! |
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Actually, the marketing people evolve. Remember that Star Wars was 'A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...' |
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eew. you're right. I suddenly feel horribly sick. |
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The marketing people didn't get the chance to evolve. According to my encyclopaedia, they were the first against the wall when the revolution came. |
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"And the new title is...Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones!" |
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Trouble with product placement in movies is that it's waaay too easy to miss them, hence the manufacturer plasters every TV channel that they can reach with ads specifically to point out that their product is featured in the film. |
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This has the side-effect that you may get so sick of the ads that you vow never to waste your cash on said film. Worked for me with Tombraider, and that was *before* I read all the review panning it! |
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Also, it does sort of give away large bits of the film before you've even stepped foot into the cinema. Somehow I can't see Mr Lucas going for it. |
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I, Robot, despite not promoting any actually available products, was still one long Audi advert. I think they got some Reeboks in there too but they were classics so they didn't bother changing the style. |
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They were 2004 Converse All-Stars, not Reeboks (No, I'm not that much of a geek to know that from memory - I saw it again just a couple of days ago). |
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Ah yes, you're quite right. Now *that* wasn't subtle advertising. |
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