Product Misplacement
It hasn’t been a good year for Dell. Slowing sales. Exploding laptops. Blogosphere disparagement. And it seems like every Dell now comes with a customer service horror story.
While good PR has been hard to come by, at least Mike D. can slip top TV shows a few dollars to bring Dell products into your living room.
That’s where a smart and disgruntled writer comes in. During this season’s second episode of House, Dr. House bites the hand that furnishes his promotional consideration.
“Why don’t I have a high-def in my office? I’m a department head. Tissue characterization is impossible when the pixels are the size of Legos.”
As you can see in the picture above, the pixels he’s complaining about clearly belong to Dell, a company outed as a paid sponsor in the credits.
While I’m not an Emmy-winning writer on a hit TV show*, I would imagine being told to write a product into the script is a source of contention. Glad to see the placement so organic to the plot.
*If I were, my show would be called Representing. Our main character, a disgraced former sports agent, would represent regular people (from grocery store cashiers to whipped boyfriends) against the forces keeping them down. The show would be a Scott Baio vehicle, and it would be a blockbuster.
YesButNoButYes Said,
September 25, 2006 @ 4:11 pm
Product Misplacement…
During this season’s second episode of House, Dr. House bit the hand that furnishes his promotional consideration. “Why don’t I have a high-def in my office? I’m a department head. Tissue characterization is impossible when the pixels are the….
arthur Said,
September 25, 2006 @ 4:15 pm
nice. I love snarky chuckles like this (LOL!). Let me know when you are in NYC! Big cocktail party tonight to celebrate omma and kick off Ad Week in NY at Marriott Marquis! btw- Steve Hall of adrants linked to your site/blog!
Werbeblogger - Weblog über Marketing, Werbung und PR » Blog Archiv » Unser täglich Link Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 4:15 am
[...] Dr. House - einer meiner Lieblingsserien - hat schon ab und an ein bekanntes Produkt versteckt. So hört der Misanthrop auf seinem iPod “The Who” oder schluckt ununterbrochen das Medikament Vikodin. Dass es aber auch negative Productplacement gibt, musste nun Dell am eigenen Leib erfahren. Die Grundbotschaft auf deutsch: Die Pixel auf dem Dell-Monitor seien so groß wie Legosteine. Autsch! [...]
TC Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 12:18 pm
Just a quick note on sponsorship. I’m the marketing director for a company that also provides equipment to House, and gets an end credit. While I can’t speak for Dell, I can tell you that we’ve never paid a cent to “House,” its production people, or Fox.
We provide them a couple of our products gratis for use, and they give us a credit. So just because a company is listed at the end as a sponsor doesn’t necessarily mean they paid money; they may just be providing equipment at no charge in exchange for the credit and/or some eyeball recognition by consumers. (Not all companies get a credit, either; usually it’s just the first ones on board, as we found when we lent equipment to another med show).
jasonenglish1 Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
Thanks for the tip, TC.
But still, if Dr. House were complaining about the products your company had provided, it would still look bad. Whether you’d paid for inclusion or not.
(Note — Let’s be honest. I don’t think Dell looks all that bad here, and this little jab isn’t stopping anyone from purchasing a Dell product. I just thought it was funny. Plus, Dell jerked me around for weeks when my under-warranty laptop died earlier this year. My post is the manifestation of my grudge.)
Rob Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 4:11 pm
You’re missing the point. Dr. House isn’t “bashing” the monitor; he’s bashing the fact that he doesn’t have a high-def monitor as opposed to a regular monitor. It’s not the monitor he has that’s the problem; it’s the lack of the monitor he wants.
jasonenglish1 Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 5:15 pm
I don’t see how that makes it any better for Dell. The message is still “This monitor is not good.”
mark Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 6:10 pm
i think the writing actually refers to a different product sponsor for the show. today i just saw a big ol’ doble page print ad for Sony (i think) Hi-Def screens in Wired. it had pictures of the cast and even an interview with the executive producer of the show. she talked about the upcoming season of House and how great hi-def was for the medical technology.
i have a sinking feeling the hospital WILL be getting some hi-def screens this season.
DR. House Chooses Dell « Design Department Said,
September 26, 2006 @ 6:13 pm
[...] Perhaps in disgust over being forced to incorporate ever more sizable product placement within network television shows, the writers of House gave House these choice words to say while he stared into a gigantic Dell monitor, “Why don’t I have a high-def in my office? I’m a department head. Tissue characterization is impossible when the pixels are the size of Legos.” Yes, and soon product placements will be the size of the TV screen negating the need for actors at all. Oh wait, without actors, there’s no shows. Without shows, there’s no place to put product placements. Hmm, we better keep our product placements smaller than legos. (Oh, and for you Lego freaks, notice how he said LegoS and not Lego?) [...]
Michael Nottebrock Said,
September 27, 2006 @ 8:19 am
There is no such thing as negative product placement. On the contrary - this episode does Dell a special favour rather than a disservice. When House, a character that badmouths everything and everyone, specifically disses a dumb and ordinary prop such as a computer display, that’s a product placement jackpot - of a similar quality like having Beavis & Butthead slate a videoclip back in the days.
jasonenglish1 Said,
September 27, 2006 @ 10:15 am
“House hates Dell! I want one!” I don’t see it.
I would grant you that this kind of placement does neither harm nor good, and has no impact on sales.
What I want to see is an episode where an exploding Dell causes injuries that only House can treat.