Core Post #4 - Abby Corbett

In Caldwell’s chapter, “Convergence Television,” he describes five fundamental changes that have taken place in the TV landscape as a result of technological innovations. He says these innovations have shifted relations and practices with advertisers and that “the thirty- and sixty-second spots are things of the past, replaced by comprehensive new product placement strategies and programs coproduced by Madison Avenue agencies and their multi-national corporate clients like Coca-Cola” (65). Caldwell later quotes advertising executive Bob Kuperman who claims that “In the future, you probably won’t know where the commercial stops and the programs begin” (65). This brought to mind an episode of the Netflix TV series Trinkets (season 2, episode 5 Works in Progress) which features one of the most striking instances of product placement I’ve ever seen. In the episode, two of the main characters, Moe and Tabitha, are working on a school project together after school at Moe’s house. There is a knock on the door and Moe excitedly goes to open it. The angle doesn’t allow us to see who it is but we hear a voice say “Hi” to which Moe replies “Thank you…the tip is on the app.” The other voice says “Thanks” and Moe shuts the door, revealing a large brown paper bag with the McDonald’s logo on it along with the word McDelivery. The camera cuts to a close up shot of Moe who takes a bite of a fry, savoring it blissfully as she says “Okay, I feel better.” The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the two characters sitting at the table, with two perfectly styled milkshakes placed in clear view. I tried to screen grab the scene from Netflix but some technology that I don’t understand prevented me from doing so, but I managed to find a pic of the scene from a blog that apparently tracks product placements from different shows:

 

 

What was striking and unique about this particular instance of product placement was that it represented a type of commercial/program hybridity. Unlike other examples of product placement where the product simply passively exists in the scene, the product placement in this episode of Trinkets actually interrupts narrative playing out in the scene. The meaning of the scene would change very little if at all without the product placement, which could be more accurately described as an explicit advertisement. Rather than reveal anything new about the characters or the plot of the episode, what we learn from this scene is that McDonalds now delivers, they have their own app, and apparently their fries can make you feel better after a stressful day. It’s not quite that we don’t know where the commercial stops and the program begins, as the advertising executive quoted by Caldwell maintains, but rather that the two have blended (not so seamlessly) into one. Perhaps this is a strategy we will see more of moving forward, especially from Netflix which has so far avoided featuring commercials into the platform unlike other streaming services like Hulu.