Harleybloke

I was watching the 'Porridge' feature film last night. In the officers bar, McKay is having a beer with another officer. The other officer picks up his pint of 'Double Diamond'. The 'DD' logo very clearly on show and says 'works wonders' in reply to a comment from McKay but which was the ad slogan for Double Diamond.

Any other early product placements?

.....You couldn't hear it, if they were shooting at me with howitzers!

penfold

If you ever get to see the film 'South', the film record of Shackleton's doomed Antarctic adventure, the crates of Colman's Mustard being hauled onto the ice are very prominent....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Aaryk Noctivagus

National Geographic in 'Its a Wonderful Life'... And who can forget that Carlsberg can be found 'Ice Cold in Alex'... even the title of the movie is a promotion - lol.

christoph404

I don't think the concept of "product placement" existed in the days of the "Porridge" film or prior to that. I would have thought it more a case of filmakers of that time innocently using real brands of products as a means of being authentic,as in the Colmans Mustard that was actually used on the Antartic trip, or the Carlsberg lager in Ice Cold in Alex. As mentioned in the thread on product placement,up until the late 60's, manufacturers of expensive items such as motor cars and watches generally refused to lend filmakers their products, now they are queing up to lend their product and paying the film makers vast sums of money in addition for the privilage. Product placement can even dictate the style and make up of an already established character such as James Bond, for example Bond was well known to always wear a Rolex but now he wears an Omega because Omega won the contract to supply the time peices for the first Brosnan film so it would seem product placement is winning over authenticity these days.

NB. Sylvia Syms candidly revealed in a recent interview that she received £30,000 for usage of the clip from Ice Cold in Alex for a Carlsberg TV ad in the eighties. I remember it well and it was simply an undoctored clip of John Mills silently downing the glass of beer and placing the empty Carlsberg glass on the counter! Im getting thirsty thinking about it.....very effective!

Carmel

Cant see the harm in it personally thats like watching a documentery on the morgue so are they promoting the morgue and the femeldahide (i think thats how you spell it) bit stupid really do we ever really say oh im buying that because they showed it on a film last night i dont and if you do how sad are you.

Rowdon

I think Christoph404's point was that 'the harm in it' is that any detail the writer included gets pushed out in favour of the highest bidder's detail. A documentary about a morgue isn't really much of an analogy, unless they leave the particular brand names of the chemicals used on screen for a readable time, when in reality they weren't using that product.
The fact that only 'sad' people buy products they see in films (sad people who probably number hundreds of thousands, but anyway...) isn't a reason to ignore films being turned into long ads.

But maybe you're right. Maybe nothing is important.

christoph404

I think we are all influenced in some ways by what we see on TV and at the cinema, barber shops in the fifties and sixties were inundated with young men requesting a "Tony Curtis" haircut or young women went out styling themselves on Marlyn Munroe or Audrey Hepburn and so on, I wouldn't agree that it was sad to want to emulate our screen heroes in some way and have a slice of the glamour for ourselves, I would have though it human nature and harmless fun. Not all of us could afford to buy a vintage Aston Martin DB5 at 200K as driven by Bond in Goldfinger but if I won the lottery I would have one parked in my drive without a doubt! Maybe its a boys and toys thing but I would hate to think Im a saddo for it!!....

Carmel

I dont mean it like that yes people will copy hair do's and clothes or cars but what i mean is things like beers, soaps, foods, perfumes things like that some people would i suppose but i personally would not and i wouldn't let a programme or film influence me into buying something if i like somethiong i buy it because i like it not because such and such used it on film and do we really think the products in programmes and films are on long enough to put them down as an advert when really they are only short glimpses of the product not a whole programme.

Aaryk Noctivagus

'Porridge' was released in 1979.

'Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.' was released in 1966 and famously had product placement for Sugar Puffs who's manufacturer part financed the movie for its product's advantage (including exclusive merchandising).

Product placement certainly existed in the movies in the days of the 'Porridge' movie as a concept and many years prior to it... even though the actual term 'Product Placement' only came into use during the 1980s.

Who can forget the drinking scene in 'Ice Cold in Alex' (1958) with the Carlsberg logo clearly placed in shot... Quite a gift from the movie makers if, indeed, it wasn't Product Placement. The logo did not add meaning to the scene, and neither was it necessary, it didn't have to be there (or covered with Sticky Backed Plastic - lol)... I'll eat my hat if there wasn't some deal involved behind the scenes.

christoph404

I think the most cynical and perhaps unfair kind of product placement is that which is aimed at children, often putting huge pressure on parents to be able to afford spin off toys or items from films. I remember years ago accompanying my brother on a trip around the whole of Edinburgh looking for a Buzz Lightyear Figure for his son, and beleive me, failure to find one was not an option! We succeeded in our mission thankfully and the look of joy on my nephews face as he opened his present at Christmas was worth the effort but I often think there should be some kind of cotrol on this kind of thing especially when demand outsrips supply and the cost of these items is often beyond the means of many families.

Carmel

even in schools kids are under pressure my daughter is 13 and she has to get Beckham jeans no other jeans will do because her friends have them at £350. a pair it is expensive its also Cloe shoes and Prada bags so it all adds up a shopping trip with my daughter is getting more expensive, so its just not adverts its also peir pressure too.

christoph404

Yep, I concede some of those points but the point Im trying to make is if we were to judge 1950s or 60s films on the basis of how product placement works today then the scene in Ice Cold in Alex would obviously be seen as a deliberate plug for Carslberg but I am still not convinced that is the case here and that there was any involvemnet by Carlsberg in the making of the film and that in all possibility the Carslberg glass is simply an authentic prop of the time. Rather than eat your hat, how about if we can find out somehow and whoever is proved incorrect must drink a whole pint of cold Carslberg without stopping for air.... so....I put forward that Carlsberg were not involved in sponsoring Ice Cold in Alex for a product placement!......in some ways I don't mind losing this challenge because Im getting thirstier by the minute thinking of that cold beer....

PS the 1980s TV ad doesn't count!

Aaryk Noctivagus

Besides the fact that I realise the 1980s TV advert is beside the point... I did have a search to see if I could find any direct evidence along those lines with 'Ice Cold in Alex' and I turned up nothing.

However, prior to the 1980s, Product Placement was rather frowned upon (at least more so within the industry than it is today - where companys are set up expressly to provide such)... so it is reasonable to expect that such sponsoring would be somewhat disguised and not made very public... however, absence of evidence is NOT proof... I'm just voicing an expectation that we'll never find out one way or another.

However... My search threw up an interesting book on the subject of the History of Product Placement in Hollywood... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Product-Placement-Hollywood-Films-History/dp/0786419040/ref=sr_1_5/202-7246361-5067008?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188418675&sr=1-5

I'd buy the book myself if I had the budget free to do so... but I haven't this month. Its not likely to answer the question of 'Ice Cold in Alex' though.

PS... Since I don't drink... you can have my Carlsberg if you win and your own if you lose

Mr Cosmo

Just thought I would add this story.
In his book I WAS ENA SHARPLES GRANDAD - I may have got the title wrong there - HV Kershaw, an early producer / writer / script editor on CORONATION STREET said they had to be careful about products being seen in the corner shop. This came to a head when in one scene an actress had to offer a customer a tin of beans and say something like, "They're not as good as the ones over there" and a prelabelled prop can was to be taken down to show the customer. Unfortunately the actress lifted the wrong tin and showed a tin of Heinz beans and delivered the line and next day Heinz were on the phone complaining. Thereafter all tins and bottles were covered.

Who'd be a producer?

(All together now - ME!!!)

smudge

It seems that Johnnie Walker (Black label?) was the drink of choice in British films of the 1970s - it cropped up everywhere ! Check out Sid James' store cupboard in the Beatific Islands in CARRY ON AGAIN DOCTOR...

Smudge

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