product placement

Is there a single company existence which manages to get more publicity from third parties than Apple?

Universal Pictures has just released its first image for the upcoming Renee Zellweger movie Bridget Jones’ Baby, and… frankly, it looks a whole lot like an advert for the iPad Air 2.

After an unexplained absence, Apple products have officially returned to NBC’s The Office, which wrapped up its seventh season last night.

Apple gear was prominently seen and mentioned during the show’s earlier seasons. In 2005, for example, former boss Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) gifted a then-cutting-edge 5th generation iPod Classic (“video iPod”).

But as of late, HP replaced Apple for “promotional consideration”, as evidenced by the closing credits. Apple products continued to appear on occasion, but only discretely, the logo always obscured.

One thing that you tend to notice when you watch as much television as I do is that almost ever character on TV uses a Mac … usually with a big sticker conspicuously placed over the glowing emblem on the lid, because while writers and set designers want to show that their characters are cool enough to use a Mac or an iPhone, Apple doesn’t go in for product placement on shows it doesn’t like.

When they do sponsor, it always smacks of love: Consider critic’s darling 30 Rock and their proudly prominent “Sponsored by Apple” product placement … all despite the fact that the shows ratings have been in the toilet for seasons now. Steve Jobs grooves on some Liz Lemon.

CBS’ hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother is one of those shows in which every character has a MacBook Pro with a sticker over the Apple logo, despite the fact it’s pretty much the biggest sitcom out there. Apple clearly thinks the show’s a bit artless … which is funny, because that’s the only way to describe the product placement bukkake party for Microsoft products that was last night’s episode.

Not exactly hot under the collar to see this movie, since by most accounts it is a rom-com gone wrong, but Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a hotbed for Apple product placement.

The trailer features an ailing iBook, showing us exactly how desperate our two young friends are for cash. The movie also has a part for Justin Long, “Get a Mac” Apple adman as a gay porno star, leaving at least one person to suggest the actor is an Apple endorsement, too.

In this dark, puzzling British comedy starring Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean, the original The Office series) as a tube driver who has to kill someone to fulfill his dream, the plot twist is underlined in one of the final scenes when a Mac shows up.

Official site: Three and Out

The most memorable product placement on US network TV in the last month was for the iPod, which appeared in the Sept. 18 episode of “Supernatural.”

Quick recap: in the show, brothers Sam and Dean Winchester travel the country investigating paranormal escapades in a 1967 black Chevy Impala.

In the product placement scene, Dean asks Sam about the Apple iPod hooked up to a jack in their car.

Dean is not impressed with the iPod (“you were supposed to take care of her (the car), not douche her up”) and chucks it into the back seat.

Nielson says it was the most recalled product placement in a broadcast network scripted series for the period between September 15 and October 12.

They gauge the number of views who can remember a product placement 24 hours after seeing the show.

The other top two memorable product placements were Tupperware (Cold Case) and Playboy (Two and a Half Men). There’s a joke in there somewhere, don’t disappoint me.

Via TV by Numbers

Given the title, there had to be some Apple action in this teen flick revolving around mix-CDs, break-up mix-ups and all-night quest in Manhattan for a band called Where’s Fluffy?

Norah (Kat Dennings) discovers something in common with Nick (Michael Cera) by scrolling through his iPod.

She declares: “You’re, literally, like, my musical soulmate.”

The line has sparked off a debate about whether personality is really defined by playlist.

There were some good cameos in Adam Sandler’s guffaw-fest “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan,” like Charlotte Rae, (Mrs. Garrett in “Facts of Life”) as a superannuated, sexed-up hair salon client, but Mariah came through with a spot-on Mac endorsement.

Mariah plays herself in the movie. While she’s in her dressing room, Zohan comes in to fight nemesis Phantom there. The fight is interrupted when Zohan gets a phone call. The dialogue detours into product placement territory, starting with the make of his phone, then this gem, about two-thirds through the scene…

Mariah: “I can never figure that Bluetooth shit out though.”

Zohan: “Mariah, it’s very simple you stick it to your PowerBook. Go ahead, Phantom will tell you.”

Phantom: “Mac or PC?”

Mariah’s assistants, in unison: “Mac.”

Spotted a Mac in a movie or magazine? Let me know.

Movie stills for forthcoming chick flick “Confessions of a Shopoholic” show star Isla Fisher sitting in front of a MacBook. She’s pretty in pink and so is her computer case.

The movie, based on Sophie Kinsella’s book of the same title, is about a 25-year-old financial journalist who can’t stop overheating her credit cards. And finds a wealthy husband. Or something like that.

Film producers didn’t have to go too far to put a Mac in the movie.

On page 335 of the book, the Becky Bloomwood character has “a crisp copy of the Financial Times under one arm, a pair of tortisehell glasses perched on my head, my clunky executive briefcase in one hand and an AppleMac laptop (sic) in the other. Maybe I over did it.”

Nah, we think it’s just the right touch.

The sharp-eyed folks at iphone savior spotted a MacBook Pro cameo on the season premiere of The Office.
In it, receptionist Pam appears in the Scranton branch from New York via iChat video.

While it’s easy to understand that Office followers — wry code monkeys and creative types alike — would appreciate the nod, Dunder Mifflin seems so much more PC than Mac.

How many places like that use MacBook Pros?