Brief Thought on Product Placement

You know what bugs me?  When I sit down to play a video game or watch a movie and there isn't any branding in place, or products that are clearly one thing are labeled as another.  From covering the back logo of an Apple computer with a single post-it, to having the entire production filled with generic brands.  It just isn't at all like the real world and it drives me nuts.

While you'll get a few people who scream foul if they so much see a Coca-Cola machine in a panning shot, most people I personally know don't seem to mind product placement as long as it's not shoved in the viewers face every five minutes or is part of a major plot point (hello Air Jordans and Space Jam).
Keep it short, sweet, and simple.  Like a character who's a struggling writer sipping on a Starbucks latte while they write their latest novel on an Apple computer.  It's completely in tune with the world we live in and you've probably all seen something similar to this in real life.  Of course you wouldn't want this scene in the middle of your space epic, but I shouldn't have to even say that.
That said, lets just skip right to it and take on movies and TV shows for now:

Deciding what products will go into a movie can be tricky business.  Many companies will refuse to buy product placement if a lead competitor is featured in the film (like Coke and Pepsi), however quite a few will simply jump at the opportunity.  For instance, the evil Deceptacon robots in transformers are all proudly GM cars, while their competitors over at Chevy took on the roll of the noble Autobots.
A lot of companies will simply be delighted to have their products featured in a film or TV show (provided it's not in a very negative light) and jump at the thought of free advertising.  Most of the time these companies pay tons of money to have their products featured in a film. 

 Most shows (and to a lesser extent movies) can get away with showing whatever brand products they want in a film (hey free advertising) without any trouble.  Instead problems arise when paid for placement doesn't show up or when products are shown in a negative light.  That said, quite a lot of people just go for the generic route to save themselves the hassle which takes us back to this blog entries point of origin.

Also keep in mind that while product placement has its problems, it can also save entire productions.

Moral of the story here?: Please oh please use real world products in your films, TV shows and video games where acceptable; and for the love of all that's good, use it wisely.