Product Placement

“Friends” was, and still is, an exceptionally popular television show.  Because it is such a beloved show, product placement is extremely evident.  Product placement is the act of advertising brand names in the media, such as T.V. shows or movies.  The way that product placement works is when a product is show on T.V., for example, then people will recognize that product and, as a result, will want to buy it.  

     

“Friends” first aired in September of 1994 and continued for ten seasons, ending in May of 2004.  The comedic show, as a whole, is about a group of six, mid-twenty year old friends, who live in Manhattan, and their dilemmas pertaining to relationships and careers.  The episode that I viewed was the fourth episode of the first season.  Two separate problems arise among the group of friends.  The girls, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe, discuss complications with their lives and where they see themselves in the future.  The boys, Ross, Chandler, and Joey, attend a hockey game that goes terribly awry.          

       

During the first scene, Rachel’s old friends enter the coffeehouse with large shopping bags, a Big Brown Bag from Bloomingdale’s, a Zabar’s bag from a food store, and a Balducci’s bag from another food store.  Even though these three bags are not mentioned, they are definitely product placement because they were arranged in a fashion that the audience can easily see.  The audience can tell that the women were shopping before meeting Rachel.  Later, when the girls are sitting at a small table, the camera is at a distance where the bags can be seen in a noticeable fashion.  Another obvious product placement is when Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe are at Rachel and Monica’s apartment.  The girls are having a slumber party.  Various games are seen, and even mentioned, in the background, such as Operation and Twister.  These games are not played with and are only seen once except until the end of the episode, where the six of them are playing Twister.  This is product placement because the friends seem so happy to be together and to be playing together.  When audiences see Twister on T.V., they will want to buy it and play with their friends because they want what Rachel has: bliss.  

While the boys are at the New York Rangers hockey game, Joey is seen wearing a Rangers hockey jersey and Chandler is wearing a New York Rangers hat.  These two products are not product placement however.  Neither the hat nor the jersey is mentioned, and when the three of them are at the game, other fans have Rangers apparel.  These products are only shown on T.V. so that they fit in with the setting of a Rangers hockey game.  At Madison Square Garden, various advertisements are shown around the hockey rink, such as MetLife, Amtrack, Delta Arilines, Sabrett, Snapple, and Budweiser.  These advertisements are also not product placement.  Ads like these are shown at all sporting event arenas; again, like the hat and jersey, the ads are merely part of the setting of a hockey game.      

       

Political Funnies

For my next blog, I watched and analyzed the Comedy Central television show “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”  The episode that I watched aired on Thursday, March 26^th of 2015.  This episode covered a wide variety of topics from the fight against ISIS, to the Ferguson shooting, to John Hargrove’s book titled Beneath the Surface, a book in regards to his experience with training killer whales and why they should no longer be held captive. 

During the discussion on ISIS, Stewart made a comment about whose side the United States is really on.  He found it confusing, and also amusing, that the United States is fighting with Iran against ISIS, but also at the same time the United States is fighting with Saudi Arabia against Iran.  In response to this situation Stewart stated, “It took decades but we finally figured out how to fight a proxy war against ourselves.”  Stewart’s foreign affair correspondent, Jason Jones, also contributed his input about the subject, saying that he was just as confused about the predicament.   

Another topic, which was briefly discussed on the show, pertained to the Ferguson shooting in Missouri.  Stewart talked about how FOX News is biased and how the news station was quick to judge the event.  Short clips were played containing FOX News covering the story.  What bothered me was Stewart calling FOX biased when he was doing the same; “The Daily Show” was acting as a gatekeeper when a reporter was alleged of saying, “We don’t care about them.”  The tone of her voice anticipated that she was not finished talking and had more to say on the topic, however she was cut off from what she was going to say.   

While watching “The Daily Show” I found it rather entertaining and informative.  I do believe that this show is beneficial to society.  The show sheds light on serious subject matters and gives us a chance to laugh at ourselves, such as the us being at war with ourselves due to the ISIS situation.  Another example of this politically funny news occurs early into the show, where short clips are being played recapping Jason Jones’ time on “The Daily Show.”  Most of the clips were stereotypical.  For  example when he was in Iran, he commented that he was scared because he was the only American in the room.  Later while interviewing an Iranian man, Jones asked the man if he hated Americans because it is a cliché for Iranians to hate Americans.  While in Denmark (the official language being Danish), Jones asked a woman if she could speak English.  After replying that she could, Jones acted as if he could not understand her, resulting in humor.              

Naturally you can’t just watch “The Daily Show” to get your news; you have to watch an actual news report, or read the paper, because “The Daily Show” only covers small portions of news stories and doesn't explain them thoroughly.  Even I was slightly lost as to what Stewart was talking about.  And as a result, I had to fill in the gaps by researching the subject matter on my own.