Product placement in The Wire

majiktripp

Does anyone else notice a shameless amount of this going on? From the unmissable white tags and UA of Under Armour garments that Sidnor and other colleagues use, to the Phat Farm clothing that was rife throughout the first couple of seasons. Also the Canon (well more Nikon) cameras that they were using for surveillance, along with the ever popular Panasonic Toughbook laptops that they always use!. Just wondering did anyone else pick up on these throughout the 5 series so far?

mccafferty

McNulty, Lester and Daniels (I think) are all seen drinking Guinness straight out of the bottle. Not sure what seasons, second or third maybe?

Jameson too, of course.

godtabh

mccafferty wrote: »

McNulty, Lester and Daniels (I think) are all seen drinking Guinness straight out of the bottle. Not sure what seasons, second or third maybe?

Jameson too, of course.

This has been going on the whole time.

Not sure if its a product placement in the sense that say programmes like the Office have. I dont think the stuff here are out of place

ixoy

kearnsr wrote: »

Not sure if its a product placement in the sense that say programmes like the Office have. I dont think the stuff here are out of place

Exactly. I'd argue that such things are important to keep the realism element - I'd prefer to see them wearing/eating brands rather than make up some fake brands. Would it better to having them drinking Goinness beer, tucking into a Burger Queen meal whilst wearing Noke shoes? It's only intrusive if it does an "I, Robot" on it and forces the viewer to acknowledge the berand in a manner outside the story.

tvnutz

It is not in your face product placement like most other shows,it is there in places and ads to the realism. I remember in one episode McNulty asks for a Jameson only to be told they don't have any but have some other brand to which he replies "that's Protestant whiskey"

When you look at other shows,then you can really see it. I recently got the Alias dvds and as fun as the show is,the product placement is so blatent. One episode they running away from gun fire and Jennifer Garner points at a car and says "quick,the Nissan whatever",cut to several shots of several angles of the car and then it speeds away.

mccafferty

Guinness is the only one that is slightly suspicious to me. The labels seem to be carefully faced to the camera. It's not anything that has taken away from the show at all. By the way, does anybody actually drink guinness from the bottle?

I only mentioned jameson because it's featured in almost every episode, but i don't think it's product placement, it's just the whiskey that McNulty drinks. An integral part of his character

mccafferty

tvnutz wrote: »

I remember in one episode McNulty asks for a Jameson only to be told they don't have any but have some other brand to which he replies "that's Protestant whiskey"

Bushmills, wasn't it? I watched that episode again recently. He still drank it

DeepBlue

Yeah he drank it as the bartender reminded him that the price was right - it was free after all.

I can't say I've noticed product placement on the show tbh.
Marlo is wearing clothes from Jamie Hector's own product line but would anyone really know that if they didn't read it online somewhere?

godtabh

DeepBlue wrote: »

Yeah he drank it as the bartender reminded him that the price was right - it was free after all.

I can't say I've noticed product placement on the show tbh.
Marlo is wearing clothes from Jamie Hector's own product line but would anyone really know that if they didn't read it online somewhere?

Didnt even know Jamie had a product line

Thosch

mccafferty wrote: »

Bushmills, wasn't it? I watched that episode again recently. He still drank it

Only after the guy handing it to him said it's for free and that this is an appropriate price for it

AnCapaillMor

Was watching one of the season2 dvds yesterday, the bit with Bunk and mcnulty eating crabs in the interogation room had a blatant display of miller box and cans. If they can make money out of it, fair play to them.

kearneybobs

Having products like miller, guiness etc add to the realism of the show. we see these products all the time so why shouldnt we see them in the show. its not like they're shoving them in our face and saying go buy some miller.

Wester

Can't believe no one has mentioned the most obvious product placement in The Wire: Nissan. Just look at the cars, especially the police vehicles, and some of the dealer's vans too. Off the top of my head, when the detail are following trailers out of the port in series 2, Carver and perhaps McNulty too are in Nissans. In Series 4, ep.1. Snoop and Chris drive to the hardware store in a Nissan van.
But what the hell, it's still the best show ever!

godtabh

Wester wrote: »

Can't believe no one has mentioned the most obvious product placement in The Wire: Nissan. Just look at the cars, especially the police vehicles, and some of the dealer's vans too. Off the top of my head, when the detail are following trailers out of the port in series 2, Carver and perhaps McNulty too are in Nissans. In Series 4, ep.1. Snoop and Chris drive to the hardware store in a Nissan van.
But what the hell, it's still the best show ever!

I wouldnt have thought it was the most obvious. There is a good selection of cars. Old and new. If Nissan were pimping their wares the models they would be using would all be brand spanking new.

Wester

I'm not suggesting Nissan are pimping their wares - product placment might be too strong a word in this case. Perhaps, mindful of budget constraints, the producers got their hands on a job lot or a car dealer(s) gave them a helping hand. If The Wire had to struggle each and every season to be recommissioned, then the producers would have been mindful of stretching their dollars that bit further. In a couple of scenes, the Nissan badge is displayed quite openly. That's not a bad thing, it's how television gets made, especially on U.S. cable where the advertising revenue is either small or nonexistent because of the nature of long-format programming: TV with no ad breaks. David Simon has suggested that long-format is the future of TV drama; he's right, like he's right on a whole lot of other things.

godtabh

If they had all been driving Mercs or BMW I would say product placement but they are driving normal day to day cars that dont take away from show itsself. These cars arent out of context at all so its not your typical product placement

Wester

You're right, I agree, it's not typical product placement; but it is funny when you see a Nissan for the umpteenth time. Ultimately, it doesn't distract from the show but I tend to pick up on these things as I'm always curious about the production values of a show. The Wire is just one of those shows that you can't praise highly enough and I couldn't care less whether they're driving Mercs, Nissans, BMWs, or whatever.

TomCMMi

I don't think there was an overabundance of product placement in the wire. The product that got the most was definitely Jameson. Beyond that dunlop got a little bit out of fuzzy dunlop, maybe a beer or two.. but nothing too serious.

Ardent

Edit: wrong thread.

Product placement - didn't think it was overt throughout the show. Was mostly aware of it with regards to whatever McNulty was drinking - and I think that just added to the realism of his character.

TomCMMi

Advertisers have been using product placement for years. It is a way for them to market chains such as McDonald's, KFC, Coca Cola, etc. They do this so when people see the food or beverage, it will put them in the mood for whatever is being advertised. Hidden messages are in millions of programs. Advertisers always have a way of convincing the public. It is most certain that The Wire has product placement written all over their show. They must figure since so many view this show it can help out companies who decide to market with them.

Sherifu

I'd say that jameson bottle had more screen time than some of the characters.

Lord Nikon

From season one products i noticed were Jameson, Heineken, SeanJohn, Rocawear, Ecko.

The homeboys would wear branded clothing regardless of advertising, because thats the scene anyway in real life.

Woudn't say Nissan had much placement in Season one though. Fords, Mercs and Mitsubishis driving around.