Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

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lindseylee
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Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by lindseylee »

I've been enjoying the new series thus far but admit am surprised at the level of blatant product placement happening. Perhaps it was required for Lynch to be able to tell the story his way.

Here is what stood out for me so far:

Blackberry
Dell
IBM
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Skype
Alpine Audio
Cheez-Its
Apple
Ford


Did I also see Miss Vicky's Kettle Chips?
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Last edited by lindseylee on Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:00 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

For me, real products lend verisimilitude. The only one that called attention to itself for me was the Skype stuff this week...but I had assumed that Skype would be used as a device to visit actors who couldn't make it to set (I was, and am, thinking primarily of Harry, and Frank's absurd Blofeld-esque desk screen reinforces this suspicion). I'm glad the technology exists to get Will in the series, and I prefer the use of the real product name/logo rather than some silly made-up knockoff (the approach taken by shows like Dexter).

Oh, the Morley cigarettes placement was pretty shamesless. :lol:
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by douglasb »

Normally you get some element of exclusivity. I doubt rival computing firms would agree for each other's products to be promoted if there was a financial aspect to the arrangement.
misterroundheels
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by misterroundheels »

It isn't product placement, half the companies whose products are seen are competitors.
lindseylee
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by lindseylee »

The Skype scene was total product placement. They could have called it video conference versus calling it by name and having the Skype brand logo on the screen.

Perhaps the others are debatable but whenever the brand logo is prominent chances are that the brand has paid to get their product featured.

Free publicity is not something that Showtime would likely allow. Productions go to lengths with processes called greeking (brand cover ups) to avoid having to get the rights to use the brand in a scene.

Good article on this here:
https://www.howtogeek.com/243047/why-do ... -up-logos/
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

[quote="lindseylee"]Perhaps the others are debatable but whenever the brand logo is prominent chances are that the brand has paid to get their product featured.

Free publicity is not something that Showtime would likely allow. Productions go to lengths with processes called greeking (brand cover ups) to avoid having to get the rights to use the brand in a scene.[/quote]

Mad Men used probably close to 100 real-life brands as clients on the show, and featured the logos and products as well as mock-up fake ads, and they only took money from four product placement deals in the history of the show. The appearance of a product doesn't mean money exchanged hands -- far from it. I'll say it one more time and then I promise to stop -- I personally find it's generally less distracting to use a real brand (if handled tastefully) than to invent some corny knockoff that looks fake and pulls me out of the scene (see the "Crunchies" box in the TP Pilot when Sarah is in the kitchen, very obviously a barely-doctored Cap'n Crunch box). We use Skype in our everyday lives, we drive Lincolns (well, I don't personally....like Janey-E, I drive a terrible car :lol: ). Taping over logos and barely-altering recognizable products is a cop-out.

Of course, you also get creators who flesh out worlds with their own unique fictional brands like Tarantino's Big Kahuna Burger, Morley cigarettes (most iconically known for the X Files but around for years before -- and now TP canon!), Lost's Oceanic Airlines, etc. i love that sort of world-building, when creators put in that level of attention. But that's a specific choice. The use of either creative fictional brands or real brands feels equally genuine to me. But props that have clearly been altered just enough to avoid potenial legal ramifications remind me that I'm watching a fictional work and pull me out of the world.

Apropos of nothing, but I'm reminded of the fact that the original MD pilot script featured Denny's in place of Winkie's. Of course Winkie's has become an iconic fictional DKL setting....but part of me wishes the original setting had been kept for the hysterical anti-product placement nature of the dialogue. "I wasn't going to say anything, but...why Denny's?!"
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by waferwhitemilk »

Andy rocking a Rolex!
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Hockey Mask
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by Hockey Mask »

I am actually drawn out of a show or movie when there are generic products. Looks artificial not to have them. Not sure why people get outraged by product placement, think if your life were a movie how many products would be seen every day.

Now, if every week Andy had to go for a Dr. Pepper like clockwork I could see how that would be excessive.
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OrsonWelles
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by OrsonWelles »

Pabst Blue Ribbon anyone? :wink:
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waferwhitemilk
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by waferwhitemilk »

In a way the branded products in view are a reflection of our changed world I suppose. I can't remember seeing any brands in the original. I couldn't even tell you if Bob's denim jacket was Levi's, Lee, Wrangler or whatever.
Janus
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by Janus »

I think its a safe bet that Ford didn't pay as their have been multiple references to the terrible cars they drive by Janey-E.

Looked to me like they just didn't care to create fake companies for some of the products. None of the shots felt blatant except maybe Skype (Microsoft).
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AgentEcho
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by AgentEcho »

The only example that really seemed like product placement is the Skype conversation with Doc Hayward. Though Frost and Lynch supposedly used Skype to collaborate on the bulk of the writing so maybe that's part of why they went out of their way to mention Skype.

Just because you see a logo on a car in a film or television show doesn't automatically mean it's product placement. In real life cars and computers have logos. What exactly is the demand of people complaining about this? That they not use real cars and computers?

I cited this example earlier when someone was complaining about this: the show Mad Men was full of real products for real companies, and not a single one was there because of product placement. Yet I'm sure cynical viewers assumed all the ads in that show was an example of product placement. But the showrunner kiboshed every attempt to actually use product placement in the show even though the show was full of real products.

There may be product placement in this series, but with the exception of the the skype example any logo you see would be logos you'd see in real life.

EDIT: I just realized Skype is owned by Microsoft, and in that screen shot Frank is clearly using a Mac, which almost surely wouldn't be the case if that was product placement.
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by Junglehop »

I just realized Skype is owned by Microsoft, and in that screen shot Frank is clearly using a Mac, which almost surely wouldn't be the case if that was product placement.

HUH?! He's clearly using a DELL computer! It says DELL on the monitor that pops out of the desk and he's using a chunky black keyboard and mouse...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkVfMWD94KQ


Anyways, product placement or not I think the blatant Skype shoutout was a nod to how Season 3 was created as Lynch has said he and Mark Frost had lengthy discussions over Skype and used it to share and create ideas.
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by tlk »

Loving product placement (or the lack thereof) in the new series. Especially that Blackberry :) And how they switched from an enormous Mercedes badge on BadCoop's first car to using almost exclusively lincolns, then to an old rusty Ford.
All brands of electronics Samsung, Gaypple, a Thinkpad (yay!), Dell, etc. Love it. Don't care if its product placement or not if it's done right! Problem is it's extremely difficult to get PP right.
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Re: Product Placement in 2017 Twin Peaks (Spoilers)

Post by DirkG »

tlk wrote:Loving product placement (or the lack thereof) in the new series. Especially that Blackberry :) And how they switched from an enormous Mercedes badge on BadCoop's first car to using almost exclusively lincolns, then to an old rusty Ford.
All brands of electronics Samsung, Gaypple, a Thinkpad (yay!), Dell, etc. Love it. Don't care if its product placement or not if it's done right! Problem is it's extremely difficult to get PP right.
Can't be too difficult if you love all of it so far. BTW the worst one for me so far was Andy's Rolex, mostly because it felt quite a bit uncharacteristic for the character. Put it on Ben and it may not had annoyed me.
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