From the Sneak ADtack! Product Placement Patrol

Jon Bershad of Mediaite is in high dudgeon over a new Resident Evil trailer that takes product placement to new lows.

Worst Product Placement Ever?: The New Resident Evil Trailer Is Basically Just A Sony Ad

In the age of the DVR and the ability to skip any commercial we want, corporations have been quick to go full force into something that’s been brewing for a while; product integration. We see it absolutely everywhere. And, as much as I hate it, I respect that this is just the world we now live in. However, this morning I saw some product placement so blatant, so repulsive, it left me screaming at my computer. Then I realized that I worked for a website and I can turn my screaming into words and post it somewhere.

Anyway, the thing that made me so upset was the new trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil movie. A trailer which literally begins with a 30 second commercial for Sony products.

The offending trailer:

Bershad passes judgment in this way:

 I don’t think there’s ever been anything this blatant and, if we didn’t at least try to register our disgust at the corporations consuming every aspect of our lives now, then we really don’t have any right to complain about it in the future. Of course, in the future, a post like this would get me shot by the Sony police or something so whatever.

Two things:

First, this does seem less like product integration (which it technically is) than a Sony TV spot grafted onto a trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution. Sort of a Minotaur ad (Minotad?).

Second, if you want to see that Sony police future fleshed out, read George Saunders’ short story My Flamboyant Grandson. Fabulous stuff.

John R. Carroll is media analyst for NPR's Here & Now and senior news analyst for WBUR in Boston. He also writes at Campaign Outsider and It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.
John R. Carroll has 305 post(s) on Sneak Adtack