Comments on: Product Placement: You Want Pizza Hut http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/10/product-placement-you-want-pizza-hut/ My opinions, let me tell them to you. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:13:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kiriska http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/10/product-placement-you-want-pizza-hut/comment-page-1/#comment-898 Kiriska Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:03:52 +0000 http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/10/05/product-placement-you-want-pizza-hut/#comment-898 Hm, that's an interesting take on it. I agree that recognizable products might help establish the idea that a series' word is the same as our own, but even in a show like Code Geass, where there are hugely obvious differences, I think that integration helps rather than hurts it. I generally always think that the more believable something is, the easier it is to relate to, which is perhaps the most important aspect of any entertainment form -- even in a world full of giant robots and supernatural powers, Pizza Hut helps ground it and adds an angle of realism to it, somehow balancing out all of the ridiculous hax, at least to some degree. I don't really think it breaks immersion at all. Still, it's hard to deny that Pizza Hut's presence in Code Geass was very, very overt. I don't necessarily think that all product placement should be so obvious, but there is still a lot of room for advertisement. For series that are more grounded in realism like slice of life or shoujo series, it would be amazingly easy to put in an official logo here or there. So many series pan over city advertisements in places like Shinjuku anyway -- they just fill it up with parody ads like Samsang. They're pretty much advertising Samsung anyway, why not make it official? They're buying "Cola-Coke" and "Pockie" anyway, so why not make it official? Also, a lot of series have nondescript cars -- Darker than BLACK obviously had a car sponsor and all of their cars were beautifully designed and animated. I don't actually remember the kind of cars they were though, but it sure didn't bother me that we sometimes got a close-up of the brand name during or after car chases. Hm, that’s an interesting take on it. I agree that recognizable products might help establish the idea that a series’ word is the same as our own, but even in a show like Code Geass, where there are hugely obvious differences, I think that integration helps rather than hurts it. I generally always think that the more believable something is, the easier it is to relate to, which is perhaps the most important aspect of any entertainment form — even in a world full of giant robots and supernatural powers, Pizza Hut helps ground it and adds an angle of realism to it, somehow balancing out all of the ridiculous hax, at least to some degree. I don’t really think it breaks immersion at all.

Still, it’s hard to deny that Pizza Hut’s presence in Code Geass was very, very overt. I don’t necessarily think that all product placement should be so obvious, but there is still a lot of room for advertisement. For series that are more grounded in realism like slice of life or shoujo series, it would be amazingly easy to put in an official logo here or there. So many series pan over city advertisements in places like Shinjuku anyway — they just fill it up with parody ads like Samsang. They’re pretty much advertising Samsung anyway, why not make it official? They’re buying “Cola-Coke” and “Pockie” anyway, so why not make it official? Also, a lot of series have nondescript cars — Darker than BLACK obviously had a car sponsor and all of their cars were beautifully designed and animated. I don’t actually remember the kind of cars they were though, but it sure didn’t bother me that we sometimes got a close-up of the brand name during or after car chases.

]]> By: TJF588 http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/10/product-placement-you-want-pizza-hut/comment-page-1/#comment-889 TJF588 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:34:00 +0000 http://op.deadend-detour.com/2008/10/05/product-placement-you-want-pizza-hut/#comment-889 I think the real probalems with product placement are: 1) The detail of the product, or at least its logo. 2) The camera focus on the product. 3) Whether it fits in the setting. Most of the objects in anime aren't tooo detailed, and when they are, it probably looks like a stick-on over the regular animation. Heck, detail is probably used to GET the viewer's attention, so when you have relatively large tracts of a single color, seeing something as small yet clear as a logo will grab your attention. As you said, not featuring Pizza Hut's during heavier scenes is a good call, but whenever something recognizable and relatively intricate on the screen, I'd wager your attention will shift for a moment, and this could break a viewer's immersion/zone-out. Heck, the product may even be what the camer'as showcasing, though that happens with a lot of objects during talky-talky scenes. If they camera is overtly trying to point out it's there, though... But I don't remember well enough to know if that really happened here (at most, with pan-shots or character show-ups, like Nunally carrying them in the missed-a-spot above). What I do know is that Pizza Hut is part of my world, and my world is not the same as that in Code Geass. If folks are driving Toyotas of have a Coke on their tables (what are the chances its label is ever skewed at all from the camera?), then they're prolly in a setting based on our world (Tokyo, anyone?!), but Code Geass's world's history is a bit different, and it's not a "regular life with something weird thrown in" deal (like Blood+'s "normal life, but then vampires WTF?!"). In Code Geass, humanoid fighting robots are accepted by the populace as true, and that's just how things are. So when something I accept as-is in the real world is part of a world with different norms, it might be jarring. Code Geass's isn't too far off, but still, I can get why people may feel jilted out of their lull. ... or something like that. I think the real probalems with product placement are:
1) The detail of the product, or at least its logo.
2) The camera focus on the product.
3) Whether it fits in the setting.

Most of the objects in anime aren’t tooo detailed, and when they are, it probably looks like a stick-on over the regular animation. Heck, detail is probably used to GET the viewer’s attention, so when you have relatively large tracts of a single color, seeing something as small yet clear as a logo will grab your attention. As you said, not featuring Pizza Hut’s during heavier scenes is a good call, but whenever something recognizable and relatively intricate on the screen, I’d wager your attention will shift for a moment, and this could break a viewer’s immersion/zone-out.
Heck, the product may even be what the camer’as showcasing, though that happens with a lot of objects during talky-talky scenes. If they camera is overtly trying to point out it’s there, though… But I don’t remember well enough to know if that really happened here (at most, with pan-shots or character show-ups, like Nunally carrying them in the missed-a-spot above).
What I do know is that Pizza Hut is part of my world, and my world is not the same as that in Code Geass. If folks are driving Toyotas of have a Coke on their tables (what are the chances its label is ever skewed at all from the camera?), then they’re prolly in a setting based on our world (Tokyo, anyone?!), but Code Geass’s world’s history is a bit different, and it’s not a “regular life with something weird thrown in” deal (like Blood+’s “normal life, but then vampires WTF?!”). In Code Geass, humanoid fighting robots are accepted by the populace as true, and that’s just how things are. So when something I accept as-is in the real world is part of a world with different norms, it might be jarring. Code Geass’s isn’t too far off, but still, I can get why people may feel jilted out of their lull.

… or something like that.

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