NEWS: Fall Out Boy: Raising the Bar on Product Placement

My thoughts are as pure as the driven snow, buster.

I wouldn't call myself an "underground elitist" or anything; I wouldn't care so much about this issue if I didn't also love them so damned much. My problem here is that music videos, such a relatively new form of expression, have the potential to be incredible artistic masterpieces (see, well, pretty much anything Michel Gondry has ever touched) and I don't like the idea of trading in the form for commercials when there are already commercials on TV. I mean, why not just make a commercial? Por ejemplo:

"Hey, I'm Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. Constant touring, energetic live shows under bright lights, and rambunctious cuddling with all the ladies along the way can really make a boy sweat: thank goodness I've got TAG All-Nighter to keep my noxious body odor in check!"

...and, scene! See, how hard would that be? This is why no one fucks with Method Man even though he made those retarded Xtreme Right-Guard commercials. Wu Tang knows there's a time and a place for everything.

I remember first hearing about the strategic product placement in movies and television shows at an NAB conference in the late 90s. It seems obvious that music videos would also suffer this same fate.

I'm surprised that advertisers haven't gone for the obvious cheesy product placements such as Taco Bell food in a Red Hot Chili Peppers video and Spray N' Wash in a Staind video.

At least videos had a fairly decent commercial-free run since 1981 when MTV first launched.

Fine, fine point. FOB have been making interesting videos for a minute now. At least I think they have. Their rise in popularity (as far as the collective music consciousness goes) can be traced pretty clearly from the time Mtv starting playing Sugar We're Goin Down. I first saw it on Fuse, a good while before Mtv played it actually. But each subsequent video has gotten bigger and more complex. I would imagine that the costs have grown quite large. I would also imagine the budget for the new video (which is pretty simple in theme compared to the last few) was completely covered by the corporations behind the product placements. So, personally, I wonder if Michel Gondry (work with me here - I know it's not likely) would have at least thought of a more imaginative way to "place" the "product"?

I'm also still not sure that they weren't consciously aware of what they were doing, though. Even the chimps are from another commercial. And I do not believe the flashing F O at the end is accidental. At the risk of getting a serious SG beat down, I think they may have actually been making a comment on the whole "sell out" thing that's constantly thrown at them.

but all other forms of artistic expression were hijacked for commercial purposes long ago. why should it bother you when it happens to music videos? the presence of crap like this doesn't mean gondry's gonna retire.

what should annoy you, as a fall out boy fan, is how a video like that is going to turn people off who might otherwise become fans. I've never heard or seen f.o.b. before this thread, and I don't have any desire to ever hear or see them again!

Oh believe me, this annoys me as well!

hey, the boyfriend analogy was funny!

I also admit the chance that I'm the only person in the world who's never heard them before, and the fact that they were in a position to make this video at all means they don't need my business, and I might not like them anyway. maybe it's just not that big a deal for the band or their fans.

ha! triple edit, totally busted.

Gah, for real! So much for being sneaky. Oh well, I'm glad you caught that. I edit way too much, and I really do think their music is beautiful, so there.

(Hey kids, the boyfriend analogy Turin's talking about is that I originally said that I felt like loving Fall Out Boy's music while bitching about their business decisions was kind of like telling a boyfriend how much I love him, while also explaining that I can't introduce him to my friends because his fashion sense so embarrasses me. In other words, possibly a selfish and assholish way of thinking. Is it?)

This is an interesting take. I think it's fair to point out here that Michel Gondry has made a lot of commercials. One thing I love about them and how watchable they are is that he weaves the products in so that they aren't "placed" so much as that they are integral to the plot.



Perhaps if Fall Out Boy (or, to give credit where credit's due, whoever directed the "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" video) had product-placed more artfully, they could still make their money and it wouldn't all be so questionable?

ha.

LIES. I refuse to let bsb fall into oblivion.

Backstreet's back... ALRIGHT!

i hate em but its hard to ignore em when i got at home a teenage emo sister who loves tho listen their music out loud every day...so annoying

I watched it with my kids earlier on today and neither of them noticed there was advertising in it, perhaps at 13 and 12 they aren't quite the target audience though. Maybe they did in their subconcious and we'll go somewhere and something will ring a bell in their head saying, "Pete Wentz used that" and they'll be begging me to buy it. But that remains to be seen.