I was watching Spider-Man over the holidays, and noticed some annoying product placement in the movie. Thinking about it afterwards, I realized that product placement in the movies had often distracted me, sometimes significantly reducing my enjoyment of the film.

I don’t have a problem with subtle placement. Someone taking a Coke out of the fridge during an interesting conversation is not “problematic product placement” for me. Even all the FedEx stuff in Cast Away didn’t bother me, because a no-name brand would have been more distracting. The Lexus logo filling the screen for a whole second in Minority Report, that’s problematic.

Another type of “non-problematic product placement” is when there is a justification for it, or it’s part of the entertainment. Example: in What Women Want, we watch an entire, full-length Nike ad in the middle of it. This, in the story, shows how Mel Gibson’s ability to hear women’s thoughts has helped him understand them better and make a kickass ad aimed at women, landing the firm the huge Nike account. The ad was great. It was entertaining to watch. That totally worked for me. I wasn’t distracted by thinking “ugh, product placement”.

This may seem silly, because it’s like I’m saying trick me into watching ads, and I won’t care so much.

(This blog was brought to you by Ikea. Ikea. Swedish for common sense.)