The new Hollywood blockbuster stars (fill in car name here)
Posted
Nov 02 2007, 02:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Blogger Meredith H. Kaiser describes her education about the power of advertising in a wonderfully entertaining post called "You're ugly, poorly dressed and uncool -- basically a loser" at SavingAdvice. It seems that Meredith was always cognizant of advertising's potential. As a teenager, she was convinced that subliminal messages to buy popcorn were flashing on the movie screen. Several years later, she got the real lowdown from an ad executive stranded with her on a grounded plane: He schooled her about product- placement pollution in movies. "I’m sad to see the opportunity that artists have to inspire wasted on one more explosive chase scene in a certain brand of car whose logo gets as much screen time as the lead actor," she writes. Now she's acutely aware of the prompts to purchase all around us (we hope her cynicism about TV news is misplaced) and their not-so-hidden message: If you don't own this, you're a loser.
