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Podcast Goodness: Womb Memories and Product Placement
November 6, 2009
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Hello podcast listeners, friends and members of the SYSK Army [formerly "Nation"]. Hope you’re all safe and sound, wherever you lay your head. Not a lot of time today, folks so on with the show…
This week on the SYSK podcast program we covered infant memory and product placement. Tuesday’s show was all about how babies, with their edible little soft knees, form and retain memories. Turns out, much like we expected, that there’s no way you can remember being born. For years it was believed that this was because our tiny little brains can’t make memories at that age, but it’ not exactly true. It’s really more about how we file away these memories and associate events on a time line. Groovy.
Yesterday we covered product placement, and despite our best efforts, we have not yet had Budweiser beer or Twinkies sent to us by the truckload despite our glowing endorsement of their products. We went over how it all works in movies and TV and named some of the more famous uses of product placement. The coolest one was in the movie “I, Robot.” Not only did they place a super cool Audi in that movie, but it was actually designed and built specifically for the futuristic action film. Again, groovy.
So that’s that, folks. Sorry to keep it short, but we’re doubling up on recording today to build up a “kitty” for the the upcoming holidays. Even podcasters need some time off every now and then!
Have a great and safe weekend, and enjoy the lovely fall weather.
Reading is fundemental:
How Product Placement Works
Can a person remember being born?
Advertising Quiz
Comments
19 Responses to “Podcast Goodness: Womb Memories and Product Placement”
One thing I’d have like to hear re: product placement is when film directors place products of their own invention. Quentin Tarantino’s Red Apple Cigarettes is a perfect example, having appeared in at least three of his films.
And I’m sorry guys, but you hardly seem like two dudes who would run an army. I see you more as heading up a think tank or the like.
Kit Whittenburg says: Hey Guys,
I only recently found your podcasts, and have spent my commutes to and from work catching up on all the episodes that I’ve missed. I’m catching up quickly, and shudder to think that eventually I’ll run out and have to wait for new episodes like everybody else.
This morning I listened to your podcast “How Product Placement Works”, and took a particular interest as I work in the film industry in LA (specifically commercials and film marketing). I just wanted to add that although “The African Queen” is perhaps the first example of product placement in a manner similar to we’re now used to, the 1922 documentary film “Nanook of the North” is a fascinating study in product placement. This film is considered one of the first ventures into documentary filmmaking, however it was also financed by a French fur company Revillon Freres to showcase their winter line of furs. The film has since been criticized for staging the scenes, and coaching the talent to behave in a more “cinematic way”.
I learned all this back in film school, so I don’t have an attribution handy, but if you check the Wikipedia entry it mentions this symbiosis briefly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_of_the_North
Take care and keep ‘em podcasts coming.
-Kit W.
Jeff Laujfer says: I enjoyed listening to the product placement podcast on my Microsoft Zune, such a quality product. I enjoyed watching the Florida Gators beat down the Bulldogs in Jacksonville even more.
Josh and Chuck,
The ball has been dropped.
I was thoroughly enjoying your report on product placement until the final moments approached and you still had not addressed the most blatant and shameless work of product placement ever produced, McDonalds’ brainchild “Mac and Me”.
From Wikipedia:
The film is known for its numerous and blatant product placements, including Coca-Cola, Skittles, Sears and McDonald’s to name a few. The main character’s name, Mac, is a reference to McDonald’s Big Mac sandwich. The only food the aliens require are Coke and Skittles. A ten-minute-long impromptu dance number, featuring Ronald McDonald, takes place in a McDonald’s franchise which led Leonard Maltin to call the film “more like a TV commercial than a movie”.
Who knows how many children of the 80’s such as myself were completely brainwashed into Happy Meal addiction by this insane marketing scheme. And yes, it was undeniably, categorically insane. I submit as evidence the aforementioned McDonalds dance number…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdvO0tmNjGo
I swear that this was the image of Mickey D’s projected in my mind’s eye every time I kicked the back of my Mom’s car seat screaming for Chicken McNuggets. And how about this classic bit of film making?…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5le9sYdYkM
No product placement, I admit, but a glaring example of why no children’s movie should ever be produced by a fast food chain.
I think I make a strong case here. The podcast was informative and the examples used certainly qualified as stuff one should know. But omitting “Mac and Me” from this episode was regrettable if not unconscionable. I believe an amendment is in order.
In the Womb Memories podcast, you commented that when someone leaves an infants immediate attention area, their existence is removed from their universe. (excuse the paraphrase hatchet job) I am beginning to believe that that same phenomenon recurs later in life.
Ryan says: Hey Guys,
I just listened to the “hangover” podcast from a few weeks back and wanted to toss out what I find to be the best hangover remedy. Now this will not be for everyone but personally I find – given the right circumstances – smoking a bit of weed really helps blanket the sometimes horrible effects of drinking the night before. It alleviates pain associated with headaches, of course it increases your appitite and just gives you an over-all cozy feeling on an otherwise misserable day.
Thanks,
Ryan from Toronto
PepeSivlia says: Chuck,
Thanks for mentioning It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Specifically, Charlie, and his milk steak.
That is all.
matt says: Drink Simply Apple all natural apple juice and take two Advil the morning after drinking.
Though it’s a tad pricey, it’s far more effective than some sort of freaky Juicy Juice compound or Gatorade.
Trust me as I have trusted you. You will not regret it.
Yes, thanks for mentioning It’s Always Sunny! And tell Josh he needs to watch it, he sounded like he doesn’t. Doesn’t he like to LAUGH? Anyway… you guys are great, you give me a twice-weekly reminder why it’s ok to have a man crush. Keep up the excellence in podcasting!
Leslie says: Just watched men who stare at goats movie this weekend after listening to the product placement episode. My husband and I were in competition to see who could spot any in the movie. I was the first to spot twizzlers! Thanks for the podcasts. You guys rock!!!
Tim says: MTVs the Real World is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, I remember one season that had the worst product placement. I think it was the France season, that year the show was sponsored by Snapple. I would count how many Snapple bottles I saw. There was one in almost every indoor scene. Usually inconspicuous, like on the corner of a desk or in someones hand nothing really jarring, but always around. I never heard it 100% confirmed but there had to be some kind of deal behind that.
I’m with Matt Becker here. Fake product placement in movies can be one of those small details that it may take several viewings to notice and appreciate. I have watched the last few Pixar movies repeatedly with my 3yr old son, and I recently started to notice some of the great “products” they create for their movies. I can’t think of any of the names off the top of my head, but there are a number of clever auto care products in ‘Cars’, and I was pleased to see some of the same ones represented among all the trash and filth in ‘Wall-e,’ including the truck from Pizza Planet. Call me a nerdy dad, but I thought it just added another funny layer of detail to the already funny worlds they create.
RayK says: All this talk about product placement and I didn’t see any mention of the #1 culprit in the movies… Starbucks! Check out this List
arch says: The movie vanishing point was conceived as an introduction for the 1970 dodge challenger. For all it’s existential musings…it’s really just a two hour commercial.
josh and brian: How on earth did you forget on mentioning “the trumanshow”!!!?!?!… you were my foreing idols! lol
Cathy says: The most obvious (I would have thought) product placement in Back to the Future… Calvin Kleins.
Vijay says: A few things on memory…
1) In the RadioLab show “Memory and Forgetting”, they note that discrete memory recall is actually an act of re-creation. So while we think of it like “accessing a file”, it’s more like a mental re-living of an event. You actually re-write the memory each time, making it less and less accurate at every pass. Especially when trying to fill in details we may not have noticed. This is a major reason why eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable.
2) Regarding sleep, as far as all brain research shows: sleep is the experience of the brain dulling your day’s experiences. Thus, only significant events/pieces persist. (Also from that RL episode)
RL Episode link: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/06/08
3) According to Buddhist philosophy, self-identity is dependent on mental constructs which are necessarily tied to language. This is because, according to Buddhist philosophy, the human brain is a symbol-constructor and metaphor-engine. And these guys figured that out some 2000 years ago.
Cheers!
Love the show, and I just finished listening to this episode and wanted to add something.
Product placement is now starting to invade video games, even as far back as the 80’s. Some games were noticeably made just to advertise a product, such as a McDonald’s game (I can’t remember the title) and even Dominoes Pizza (Yo Noid!), whereas some other games were more subtle. While listening to your podcast, I couldn’t help but remember Darkened Skye, a game I was suckered into buying, only to discover the unusual product placement. The game was a fantasy based third-person shooter/rpg, where you needed to gather Skittles candies to cast spells and save the world.
To this day, it still sits in my mind as the most unusual form of product placement I’ve seen. It hasn’t made me buy any Skittles, but every time I hear “taste the rainbow,” I can’t help but think of that game.
Thanks for the great podcast, and I can’t wait for the next episode.