Lifestyle

TOPICS:

Previous

PAGE: 

1 ... 

295 | 296 | 297

 ... 954

Next

walkswithbears

walkswithbears

United Kingdom
March 2003

SEP 15, 2005 09:57 PM

Corporate interference and product placement in mainstream film has increased exponentionally since its formative days in E.T. to the point where it is now endemic in Hollywood. The worst examples make it diffucult to know when the adverts have stopped and the film has begun, as anyone who has seen The Island will testify. But now corporations are on the verge of taking their influence into the creative process one step further, as Universal Pictures has signed a deal to distribute the very first movie ever produced by...Mountain Dew???

Universal Studios has inked a pact with Mountain Dew Films, a marketing arm of the soft-drink maker, to distribute snowboarding doc "First Descent," slated for a Dec. 2 release.

First Descent, which tells the history of snowboarding from its beginnings in the 1970s to an international sport replete with corporate sponsorships, is the first film to be financed and produced by the soda company.



Sponsorship of extreme sports is nothing new, and any documentary about snowboarding would by its very nature inevitably feature corporate banners throughout the action footage, although this is the first example of a corporation explicitly producing a nationwide cinema release, and could signal a dramatic shift to firms deciding not to rely on tie-in advertising, but rather to produce what could essentially amount to two hour adverts for their products.

The Truman Show was a film based on a fictional TV series financially supported by product placement (and consequently supported by this placement itself) – now, this degree of separation is being removed, which could prove disasterous for projects with oppositional views or ideologies contrary to corporate values, never mind to the artistic integrity of their creators. Due to the major studios quasi-monopolistic hold on the industry through vertigal integration (they control the filmmaking process from production through to distribution), films that do not accommodate corporate inteference could struggle to be produced at all, let alone shown.

Though it may not herald the end of oppositional dialogue in mainstream film (eg. Terminator 2 showcased the pinnacle of technological advancement while containing a narrative demonstrating that such advancement will ultimately prove apocalyptical), corporate inteference in the production of art can only be a step in the wrong direction. Especially if it means we have to endure more shite like The Island.

jonasgrumby

jonasgrumby

Alexandria, VA
April 2004

SEP 16, 2005 11:05 AM

YUSHi

YUSHi

United Kingdom
May 2004

SEP 16, 2005 11:11 AM

For a second i thought this news article was about DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist... blush

joe_T_17

joe_T_17

Philadelphia, PA
May 2005

SEP 16, 2005 11:15 AM

I once spent $8.00 to see a 2 hour FedEx/Wilson Commercial called Castaway. Tom Hank was the spokesman.

TReBlah

TReBlah

I'm lost
March 2005

SEP 16, 2005 11:16 AM

i bet that mountain dew movie will be EXTREEEEEEEEME MAN! wink

Thrasher

Thrasher

Mesa, AZ
September 2002

SEP 16, 2005 11:21 AM

The Documentary DogTown & the Z-Boys was a Sony Pictures Classics release, but it was a Vans off the Wall film. Nearly all the money behind it came from Vans which is owned by the VFcorp, they make Lee & Wrangler jeans.

It seems pretty similar to me.

[Edited on Sep 16, 2005 by Thrasher]

omboman

omboman

I'm lost
July 2005

SEP 16, 2005 11:43 AM

Adverts are due to become rarer and rarer as technology advances enough to make people able to cut out the adverts. This means that product placement on television is going to become more and more blatent and you can bet that if coke spend millions on product placement in TV shows, they will want control over the subject matter too.

Dark days.

alpha_hazard

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO
April 2004

SEP 16, 2005 11:47 AM

Ugh, and they wonder why theatre attendance is down.

Miel

Miel

Goleta, CA
October 2004

SEP 16, 2005 11:59 AM

I never really notice product placement in movies, unless they make a big deal about it.
Normally it just seems to add some realism.

This Mountain Dew thing is really weird, though. confused

BlueCadet

BlueCadet

Austin, TX
August 2003

SEP 16, 2005 12:14 PM

I.Hate.Advertising.

Telltale

Telltale

USA
May 2004

SEP 16, 2005 12:43 PM

Even worse are the product placements in I, Robot and Blade Trinity. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love apple, but "She likes to listen to mp3s when she hunts" is fucking bullshit.

bonfirecollapse

bonfirecollapse

Chicopee, MA
January 2003

SEP 16, 2005 01:01 PM

wow.......i didn't think it could get any worse when it came to product placements in movies. this is just disgusting. i think alpha had it right when he said......."and they wonder why theatre attendence is down".
if you think this is bad try reading the book No Logo and you'll realise how invasive advertising is in our everyday life. it makes me feel icky whenever i see product placement.

thestral

thestral

Manassas, VA
August 2005

SEP 16, 2005 02:25 PM

This actually isn't anything new. Go find the book called Syrup by Maxx Berry (or barry, not sure). The two main characters of the book come up with an idea to make a feature length action movie commercial for Coke. Basically, some aliens invade Earth because Coke is like crack to them and they gotta have it! It was pretty hysterical. Go check out the book.

tellyfone

tellyfone

Ithaca, NY
December 2004

SEP 16, 2005 08:32 PM

In the early days of television, wasn't there a law eventually passed which limited the degree to which advertisers could control the content of TV programming? I recall that there was, in response to just the kind of thing being discussed here.

As for math classes being sponsored by Pepsi, one needs A LOT more caffeine than is provided by a can of Pepsi for proper math comprehension!

[Edited on Sep 16, 2005 11:34PM]

kaizoku

kaizoku

Madison, WI
October 2004

SEP 17, 2005 01:08 PM

I'm not as scared, and here's why -- there are too many studios who are already supporting indie films and don't factor in product placement that this will be a non-issue. Remember the Spot games for Genesis/SNES (I think there was one for PSX as well)? Or Yo! Noid? McKids? Or, finally, Pepsiman?

Yeah, it's shameless product placement, and the movie will most definitely suck, but that's just it. The movie will most definitely suck, and in the end they'll realize that this just isn't a cost effective way to get people to consume.

sugarfish

sugarfish

Los Angeles, CA
January 2004

SEP 17, 2005 11:48 PM

There was this shitty Tom Cruise movie I could never bring myself to watch that looked so much like a soda advertisement that I called it "The Mellow Yellow movie" -- "Days of Thunder." Didn't Mellow Yellow used to ber the name for Mountain Dew?

Jeff_Fries

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA
September 2003

SEP 18, 2005 01:02 AM

The worst I can think of was the Nike commercial in What Women Want. That was just unbelievable.

tellyfone

tellyfone

Ithaca, NY
December 2004

SEP 18, 2005 05:31 PM

Along with Nike's 1987 promo video with the Beatles' "Revolution" in the background. The height of silliness!