Sunday, November 04, 2007

Product Placement: Heroic, Yet Futile

In last Monday's episode of HEROES, a black video iPod was featured prominently in one scene. The dialogue indirectly emphasized its video capacity; and a character even turned the back of the device to the camera, to show the Apple logo on the back.

Product placement? Apparently. A generic video MP3 could be used; or a DVD.

The odd part: Due to acrimony between Apple and NBC/Universal -- which airs HEROES -- earlier this year, NBC announced it would yank its programming off iTunes. That includes HEROES.

So why would the network give Apple millions of dollars worth of advertising in the form of product placement? Two guesses. First, the scene may have been filmed before the Apple/NBC brouhaha. Second, Apple still buys lots and lots of TV advertising time; so staying on the company's good side might still pay dividends.

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