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Most obnoxious product placement was always Mindy Project:

"Let's use my Microsoft Surface to look up the website"

"Use my Sprint phone--I have an unlimited data plan"

Yikes
 
Anyone else remember seeing iBooks toward the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and wanting one just because the logo on the back lit up? Just me? m'kay.
Elle's orange iBook in Legally Blonde is the one that did it for me. I'm pretty sure that movie is the first time I ever obsessed over an Apple product.
 
Did you watch Jessica Jones season 2? For 99% she uses iPhone there. But during the calls, the screen stays on all the time... it is so painful to watch, as it looks like a phone with a broken proximity sensor (although probably in reality she does not make a call at all, but rather uses some kind of app or simple picture simulating the phone during the call)
 
Also noticed a lot of product placement in Jessica Jones season 2. Jessica and pretty much all the main characters use iPhones (I guess they are iPhone 7). However, on the laptop department, they showed a wide variety of devices. Jessica used a Dell laptop while the other guy that works with her used a MacBook, and many other characters in the show used Surface devices (I spotted a Surface Book and a Surface Pro 4).
 
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Heh, I love that picture. It’s like Where’s Wally but with a Windows user — so you don’t care if you find them and wish they stayed hidden a little longer :D
 
Product placement is nothing new here, although maybe it's new for Apple?

One amusing case of this I remember was in the James Bond film, Golden Eye. Every computer that appeared in the movie had a larger-than-life IBM logo on it. I remember it being funny because almost all of the computers were owned by the bad guy. I was thinking "does IBM really want to be associated with someone trying to blow up the world?"

Then there are the TV shows that still use Windows phones. Publicity for devices that are obsolete.
Still they provide a useful historical reference.
 
This entire article is ridiculous... Pepsi, Coke, beer companies.... Every popular brand in the world uses product placement and celebrities to push their products. Lexus used Black Panther. Acura uses the Avengers. Why are people wondering if Apple does it? LMAO.
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Everytime I see an Apple product in a TV show I notice it. With or without the weird ways they try to cover the Apple logos. Whether it's a piece of tape, a sticker, or a clamshell case, I see it and think about it. And roll my eyes. LOL. I also notice if an iPhone is ridiculously outdated, too. I also notice if the screen is showing the phone as a dial pad, screen saver, on an actual call, or off completely. I think most Apple fans catch this kind of stuff.
It's because the show didn't pay Apple to use the copy written logo.
 
Its interesting that Apple can find room in their margin to pay big bucks to celebrities to clutch their devices, but not for bumps in hardware.
Apple's marketing departments and hardware margins do not share a single thing in common. Different budgets, timetables and priorities.
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Agree! It's like McDonalds taking down the big yellow "M" from their signs. I can't believe people have made kits (for sale) to add a glowing logo to iPhones and there isn't one for the Macbook yet...
Most companies change their logos every 5-10 years like clockwork. Apple did it.

Besides, Apple has a nice, long run with the glowing Apple on laptops so it was time to move on before it became the running joke in every TV show and movie. The only thing more important to Apple than free publicity is being at the forefront of the latest marketing trends. They did themselves a favor.
 
Hawaii 5-O ditto ditto.
Their Microsoft product placement is ridiculous. But as I remember they are open about it in the credits. I think one of the benefits of Apples iconic designs is that they are easily spotted and are more easily incorporated into a show without being overtly unsubtle.
 
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Product placement isn't new for Apple either. Apple were all over Captain America The Winter Soldier amongst many other popular movies (I happen to know that one because I've watched it a ridiculous amount of times :p and wrote a mini paper on some of the product placement in that movie).

This is why I don’t watch American big studio Hollywood films. I can’t remember the last one I saw. All about money and nothing else. Money for the studios and they’re happy to sell out the films in any way they can for money. You can always tell when it’s a paid vs non-paid placement because the paid ones have close ups that show branding significantly large on the screen or otherwise focus on it longer or in a way that doesn’t fit naturally with the flow of the scene. I only ever see this in American Hollywood films.

Very rarely there might be a big budget film that doesn’t sell out, like Lord of the Rings or Mad Max Fury Road, but they were New Zealand and Australian films respectively in virtually every other way apart from Hollywood financing, so I don’t know if they count.

I block ads and avoid advertising religiously (I don’t watch commercial TV or listen to commercial radio either) so why would I willing pay and sit through something that is itself a giant ad?
 
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Product placement is nothing new here, although maybe it's new for Apple?

One amusing case of this I remember was in the James Bond film, Golden Eye. Every computer that appeared in the movie had a larger-than-life IBM logo on it. I remember it being funny because almost all of the computers were owned by the bad guy. I was thinking "does IBM really want to be associated with someone trying to blow up the world?"
Not only that, but I remember in the show 24, the the good guys used Macs and the bad guys used PC’s. As it should be. Lol.
 
This is why I don’t watch American big studio Hollywood films. I can’t remember the last one I saw. All about money and nothing else. Money for the studios and they’re happy to sell out the films in any way they can for money. You can always tell when it’s a paid vs non-paid placement because the paid ones have close ups that show branding significantly large on the screen or otherwise focus on it longer or in a way that doesn’t fit naturally with the flow of the scene. I only ever see this in American Hollywood films.

Very rarely there might be a big budget film that doesn’t sell out, like Lord of the Rings or Mad Max Fury Road, but they were New Zealand and Australian films respectively in virtually every other way apart from Hollywood financing, so I don’t know if they count.

I block ads and avoid advertising religiously (I don’t watch commercial TV or listen to commercial radio either) so why would I willing pay and sit through something that is itself a giant ad?
LOTR and Fury Road were Hollywood Money. It would be a bit odd if Frodo cracked a can of Pepsi Max though. So not good examples.

On Pepsi Max (or was it Pepsi Free?)it all started with Back to the Future and Pepsi sponsorship. Think of the scene when he wakes up late. How does that can be used with the logo fully exposed all the time? It was quite controversial when the film was released.

Disclosure: This comment was not sponsored by sugar loaded beverages companies.
 
No one can forget Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City starting and ending almost every episode by typing on a PowerBook.

Even for a cable show... that's a lot of exposure.

Did Apple pay for that? I'm not familiar with product placement deals.
 
They are becoming a cultural icon...

"Becoming" a cultural icon? They ARE a cultural icon. From the first Mac Classic appealing to creative professionals/artists to white EarPods on the first iPods, they have been a cultural icon for years. Apple has always been smart about product placement in TV and movies, from the desk of Seinfeld to saving the world in Independence Day. Nothing new.

My father worked in the film industry and would always see if he could get Apple product placement so he could get deals/free gear.

It is kinda crazy they got rid of the glowing Apple on laptops tho. Seeing your favorite celebrity on a show or music artist on stage with a big glowing Apple is pretty influential. On the flip side it was also annoying to see the circle or glow through the screen.
 
Letting light shine through the display is a far dumber decision. This was already an issue on certain later MacBook Air and Pro models. It’s not coming back.
Who cares? How many times it actually bothered you. I think in my case maybe 4-5 times over the years. Thats nothing as compared to the beauty of that glow
 
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Who cares? How many times it actually bothered you. I think in my case maybe 4-5 times over the years. Thats nothing as compared to the beauty of that glow

I’ll repeat: It’s not coming back. The issue got worse as display assemblies got thinner, and they’re not going to make the display assembly thicker for an aesthetic feature. Function defines form—they used to be able to get away with it, and now they can’t anymore. It’s not coming back.
 
This entire article is ridiculous... Pepsi, Coke, beer companies.... Every popular brand in the world uses product placement and celebrities to push their products. Lexus used Black Panther. Acura uses the Avengers. Why are people wondering if Apple does it? LMAO.
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It's because the show didn't pay Apple to use the copy written logo.

Shows don’t generally pay, they get paid for product placement. If they don’t have clearance to show a trademark or logo they cover it up.
 
It's because the show didn't pay Apple to use the copy written logo.

it's usually the opposite with product placement. Shows will cover up brands and logos for products they want to use in show, but don't pay them to advertise.

if you're running a version of NCIS, and you need "Generic Laptop v4.0", and it so happens to be a Mac. But Apple gives you zero money to advertise, why give them free advertising? Apple won't care that their products are being shown (they have said in the past that they encourage it as free advertising if used in a positive manner). For example, there was an episode of "Modern Family" surrounding the iPad. Apple did NOT pay for that. it was the shows creative direction that they wanted to showcase it. Apple did not care as it was essentially free advertsing.


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must be a slow newsday though. this article is basically repeating the things we've known since the 80's. Getting your product in a TV show seen by millions is good advertising.
 
Everytime I see an Apple product in a TV show I notice it. With or without the weird ways they try to cover the Apple logos. Whether it's a piece of tape, a sticker, or a clamshell case, I see it and think about it. And roll my eyes. LOL. I also notice if an iPhone is ridiculously outdated, too. I also notice if the screen is showing the phone as a dial pad, screen saver, on an actual call, or off completely. I think most Apple fans catch this kind of stuff.

I've often wondered why,

a. Apple would loan stuff if they were going to disguise it, or

b. Why the props team would buy Apple stuff rather than cheaper gear if they didn't want to advertise Apple stuff?
 
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