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MaxPower2k3 · Jul 28, 2006, 10:52 PM

I was just watching The Simpsons (good old episode... rare these days. But I digress) and there was a Nissan commercial where a woman is on the Nissan website configuring a car and the changes are taking place on an actual car. The computer she's using, however, is a prominently-displayed iMac. There's a shot over the back of the iMac with the "iMac" text clearly visible, a shot of the front with the apple logo on the bottom, and a shot of the woman's hand holding a bluetooth mouse with the apple logo showing between her fingers. I'm used to seeing Macs in TV shows, movies, and magazines, but I don't usually see product placement that prominent in advertisements. Does Apple pay ad agencies to use their products in other companies' ads or something?

hayesk · Jul 30, 2006, 11:17 AM

Apple has said in the past that they don't pay for product placement. I read that in an article recently but I don't remember where.

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 30, 2006, 11:20 AM

Huh. That's odd then. The commercial had a very starck, white look that the Apple logos actually detracted from. It seemed like they were deliberately left in (and featured).

Jawbone54 · Jul 30, 2006, 11:24 AM

Think about it...

Almost all graphics and video artists are Mac users. Almost all Mac users are fanatic about their Macs. It makes perfect sense for them to want to prominently display Macs in their advertisements. You see them in ads ALL the time on TV.

I've had a sharp eye for Macs in TV shows/movies since I started using, and now my wife has started looking out for them. We'll be watching something, and suddenly she'll flinch and half-shout, "MAC!" while pointing at the TV. She was talking the other day about how many Macs are in TV, and how if the real world was like TV shows or movies, Mac would have 90% of the market. And lately my sweet little PC user has been begging me to buy her a MacBook.

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 30, 2006, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

It makes perfect sense for them to want to prominently display Macs in their advertisements.

Even when it detracts from the look (and message) of the ad? Having an otherwise white frame (except the person using the computer) with the big gray "iMac" text across the lower third of the screen is very noticeable, and distracts you from the ad itself. Or a shot of the front of the computer with the car configuration website open on it and the big gray Apple logo below it.

draggerman11 · Jul 30, 2006, 01:41 PM

That commercial was more an ad for Apple than Nissan. I couldn't even tell that it was a Nissan ad, because I was paying attention to the Apple symbol on the front of the iMac, on the mouse, and the "iMac" text on the back.

Peter · Jul 30, 2006, 03:17 PM

I bet Apple arent complaining

Zeeb · Jul 30, 2006, 04:25 PM

I was in an electronics store the other day and there was an endcap display for some PC only software. Anyway, part of the endcap display was a prominent picture of a computer--a Powerbook--not a MBP. I couldn't believe that even a PC only software company would display a computer that couldn't even run the software they were trying to sell.

hayesk · Jul 30, 2006, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by Zeeb

I was in an electronics store the other day and there was an endcap display for some PC only software. Anyway, part of the endcap display was a prominent picture of a computer--a Powerbook--not a MBP. I couldn't believe that even a PC only software company would display a computer that couldn't even run the software they were trying to sell.

Most people just see "computer". Only Mac geeks like us know it's a Mac, and to them, we don't matter.

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 30, 2006, 10:31 PM

Something like this is what you usually see. an Apple with the logo covered or just displayed in a way that doesn't show the logo. That's one thing, since it shows a nice-looking design without advertising a brand or company.

like daggerman said, though, this Nissan ad had the Apple logo and iMac brand displayed more prominantely than its own. Someone (even a person unaware of Apple or their computers) would really be getting 2 ads in one. I can't imagine Apple didn't have a hand in that.

imitchellg5 · Jul 31, 2006, 10:25 AM

Here in Colorado Springs, ads for Adelphia high speed internet almost always have a PowerBook G4 15 inch in them. One even zooms in to the bottom of the screen and you can see the words PowerBook G4.

Mastrap · Jul 31, 2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

Even when it detracts from the look (and message) of the ad? Having an otherwise white frame (except the person using the computer) with the big gray "iMac" text across the lower third of the screen is very noticeable, and distracts you from the ad itself. Or a shot of the front of the computer with the car configuration website open on it and the big gray Apple logo below it.

I work on commercials for a living. I am 100% certain that this is a paid for product inclusion.

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 31, 2006, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

I work on commercials for a living. I am 100% certain that this is a paid for product inclusion.

That's what I figured. Even if all of the "Mac Fanatic" designers at the ad agency wanted to show off their Macs, all of the executives and other people at Nissan who have to approve the ad would never let that stuff through. Commercials are too expensive to be advertising somebody else's products.

iREZ · Jul 31, 2006, 10:59 AM

am i the only one who points out the macs during movies and television shows to people who have no care in the world?

imitchellg5 · Jul 31, 2006, 11:22 AM

No, I do too.

Jawbone54 · Jul 31, 2006, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by iREZ

am i the only one who points out the macs during movies and television shows to people who have no care in the world?

One of two, friend.

[EDIT] - Make that three.