“Avatar is in contention for an Oscar because it dominated its field, both technologically and financially. But another cinematic player was even more dominant last year: Apple. In the 44 films in 2009 that topped the box office for at least one weekend, an Apple logo or device could be seen in at least 18 of them. (That’s almost 41%.) In some, Apple products even eclipsed their human scene partners,” Abe Sauer reports for The Awl. “This high appearance rate does not include the heap of mass-market films from 2009 that did not own a weekend but also featured Apple product placement.”
“Just to name a few of those? That list includes Drag Me to Hell, Orphan, I Love You, Man, Duplicity, Crank 2: High Voltage, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Imagine That, Sorority Row, Answer Man, Post Grad, I Love You Beth Cooper, All About Steve, Hurt Locker, New York, I Love You, It’s Complicated, Road Trip: Beer Pong, Law Abiding Citizen, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Funny People and Couples Retreat,” Sauer reports.
“These numbers also don’t include the mountain of other films and TV shows, from Macs on Regis and Kelly and Jimmy Fallon’s desks to the Mac grotesquerie of The Office and 30 Rock. Fruity logo out front, advertisement aglow,” Sauer reports. “For one month in 2009, product placement tracking service Nielsen IAG noted 62 total ‘occurrences’ of Apple products, more than any other brand, including AT&T (59), Coca-Cola (55) or Ford (41).”
Sauer reports, “Hamish Purdy, the assistant set decorator for Watchmen (which featured an Apple ‘Easter egg’) explains, to some degree, how this happens. ‘One thing we often have to deal with is ‘clearance’ to use a product on a set. If the item has been ‘product placed,’ clearance is inherent. Apple has always been willing to provide product for sets without too much hassle. Yeah, just so that is clear: Apple does not pay for any of this exposure.”
Direct link via Vimeo here.
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
It also photographs better. flaws in PCs, weird reflections etc. make them harder to film or photograph, because they are really evident blown up big.
@dd, Well, that – and most Windows hardware just isn’t that attractive to look at, photograph, etc. Good design photographs well, mediocre design photographs mediocre.
Good design and Fox News go well together.
Last season of 24, when Jack discovers the old hands from CTU, big bright Apples moment, good guys use the fruit, baddies use the dull.
I think Apple have a patent on the glowing backlit logo…
And it was a stroke of genius when they turned the logo the right way round post-Wallstreet.
They omitted my favorite from the Star Trek movie in which Kirk & Crew go back to 20th century San Francisco to obtain a whale to take back with them. Scotty shows a company how to make a lightweight, super-strong alloy (for the tank) on a Mac. Don’t recall which Mac, but it was the original all-in-one form factor.
This is from much-faded memory, but I can vividly recall Scotty typing away furiously on the keyboard while various molecular structures danced around the screen.
A keyboard…. How Quaint
I remember someone yelling at the computer “computer on!” And getting very frustrated.
Scotty, picks up mouse and speaks in to Mac 128 “Computer? COMPUTER? ” with Scottish brogue…
I tried to get Windows 7 featured in Drag Me To Hell but the director said it was typecasting.
“Apple does not pay for any of this exposure.”
They don’t have to.
The first season of CSI had Macs in all the labs (which is accurate to such labs). Dell came in and paid them a fortune to place their dud machines instead.
Hey guys, can any of you be so kind to tell me what is the first song that is being played on the video? The second one is Stereo Total’s Musique Automatique.
Fsck Avatar. Horrible movie. Only eye-candy and no real content.
UP FOR THE WIN =D
I agree with lukeskymac on Avatar.
Also, I hate it when on TV they cover up the Apple logo on the computers with tape, a post it note or some such but will show someone driving a Ford truck or the like
Stargate SG1 was proud to show off those clunky Dells.
Yeah, Avatar really su**ed. Apple should insist on seeing a script, and bar the duds from using Apple prducts.
Transparent Aluminum. Apple’s REAL contribution to the future:
Watch “Nova” or any other science show on PBS and see how many Macs are used the various science disciplines.
For TV fiction, “Bones” uses both Macs and Dells. However, it seems the Dells are more likely to be controlling lab instruments – which corresponds to what I have seen in the real world. Macs are used for human-centric tasks. That also corresponds to what I have seen in the real world.
Apple is second to Ford in product placement from 2001-2010.
http://www.brandcameo.org/brandcameo_brands.asp?all_year=all_year#brand_list
I agree with the ones that say avatar sucks. It really did. Bunch of eye candy. The movie was overated. The only thing it should win is graphics award that’s it. I much rather watch titanic all day than avatar. At least there nipples and Humans doing like their on discovery channel. Not some man, spidermoneky, smurf, tiger love child that uses it’s hair to get it on. I just want my money back.
It’s really simple:
The placements that Apple has approved are able to display the logos without covering them up. Apple approves the context in which the product is seen so that it is not negative towards the brand.
When you see Macs with covered up logos, Apple has not approved their appearance. Either the production is too lazy to request that Apple approve the placement, or they got rejected and did it anyway.
Apple never pays for product placement, ever.
–mAc
“(taxis in films are almost always Fords)”
As if they weren’t in real life
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There seems to be a lot of background research missing from the article. To me, it appears that there’s either monetary or legal hassle if the production does show the logo. Example: The con-man-show “Leverage” used Apple products throughout the second season, but only in the first episode the logo is not covered up. Why the change? Did Apple not approve of the show? More likely, it costs the production company money (either to Apple directly or in fees to get the paperwork for the approval done), since the producer of “Leverage” commented in numerous interviews about the little budget they have.
That the Apple logo is visible that often despite those hassles shows how strong the brand is with the powers that be in TV and movie production.
Having MacBooks out front on Fox News is great!
Rush is a Mac user too.
If only Michael Savage would follow suit.
We used to laugh at shows that clearly used macs but covered up the apple logo because apple would not pay them….How I Met Your Mother often had a globe image over the glowing apple. Yet funnily they made no effort to hid it on the iPhones they use.
qka,
Keep in mind, Dell pays the shows to put their boxes in view. Also, sleek Apple machines call more attention to themselves than the dull, blah, generic looking garbage from Dell.