Product placement holy grail discovered

Following up on that last posting, I've found a site that helps you track down just what's being pimped to you in movies or on TV.  Read what eVisure can do for you!

If you've ever wondered, "where can I buy that adorable pink laptop that Reese Witherspoon used in Legally Blonde 2?", or dress like the guys on HBO's Entourage, wait no longer. Through a basic search on eVisure.com, users will locate the product(s) of their choice, opt-in to receive additional product information upon request, or gather details on where to purchase the item via a store locator listing. ...

The official eVisure site will be available to the mass consumer public in the spring of 2006.

(Last sentence included just because I'm so fond of the phrase "mass consumer public.")

Spotting product placements has always been like having a math book with no answers in the back, but all that's changed now.  So if you watch Jason Reitman's Thank You for Smoking (the film he made before Juno) but don't realize you've just been infected with commercials for Heinz 57 sauce, the Chrysler Sebring convertible, and the Zero Halliburton Elite 4" ice blue attache case, you've got no one to blame but yourself.

This is going to provide me with no end of amusement.  Thanks for the life enhancement, eVisure!

[ NB: Don't watch Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking.  If you really want to see Aaron Eckhart doing best what he does best, try In the Company of Men instead—but I warn you, it'll hurt. ]

Comments

[Thomas Daulton]

There have been several sci-fi stories that postulated a future where _NO_ music existed besides commercial jingles, _NO_ movies or entertainment where the blatant advertisements didn't overwhelm the plot, etc., etc., because the cost of producing entertainment was simply too high to do it otherwise. Or the corporations had become just too powerful. Looks like we're heading towards the latter -- as you point out -- write the product placement first, as a hymn of praise, and _then_ hope that Our Lord the Company deigns to grant us the boon of his largesse.

Here's my take on that genre of sci-fi: "Already A Winner" (warning, Adobe PDF file)

I've lost track of how many people -- dozens -- read that story and then tell me "What a horrifying vision of continued life under the Bush Administration." To which I always have to respond, "I wrote that story in 1996, long before I or anyone else knew who George W. Bush was."

[(To read other stuff from that issue, click here.]

[John Caruso]

Well, of course; everything that's wrong with this country is a direct result of the Bush administration, and if we can only get rid of them and their ilk everything will be right again.