Kutcher Sneaks Placements on Two and a half Men

By now you have probably seen (or at least heard about) Charlie Sheen's replacement on the new season of Two and a Half Men. (If you haven't then you obviously live under a rock) So did you notice the sneaky placement in this weeks episode?

It appears in the episode while Ashton Kutcher's character 'Walden' is sitting on the couch with his lap top. The computer is plastered with stickers for various companies that Kutcher is invested in. The companies include Foursquare, Chegg and Hipmunk, among others.

Of course, by now we all know that seeing this type of product placement is not unusual....however the sneaky part is that the placements were not paid for! That's right, Kutcher managed to sneak them past the directors, gaining tons of free and very valuable publicity for the companies.

If you are interested in seeing the placements, you will have to look online, though. CBS is unhappy with the placements, because they were not paid for - and placements on that program are sold for a pretty penny. So the brands will be blurred in any future episodes where they are present. I think its great that he got those brands in there, even it it was just once, he obviously knows the value of product placement, way to go Ashton!

Running With Product Placement

One new show that I have had my eye on this season is Take The Money And Run. Its a new reality show on ABC where two people hide a briefcase of money and try to keep it a secret while they are in a holding cell for 48 hours.

After a few shows, I noticed that more product placement was seeping into it. One that was very blunt was OnStar. In the beginning of the show they have one hour to hide the money and then they must pull their vehicle over and get arrested. In the last episode, all of a sudden OnStar came on in the vehicle and stated that the same technology that they use to stop stolen vehicles was being engaged to slow their vehicle to a stop as well.

Overall the product placement fits, but in a new show it was a little blunt. This combined with the sudden arrival of the placement could be a little unsettling to viewers. However, as a viewer, I learned a little more about what OnStar can do, and it is definitely impressive!

The First Search Engine For The Real World

When I saw the new Dodge Journey campaign, I instantly liked it! There is a movement in car advertising lately, many campaigns are now trying to inspire a lifestyle. And instead of just showing the car driving on different terrains, the commercials now include people, places and activities. (Other examples of this can be seen in my previous posts about Toyota and Chrysler)

Check out one of the new commercials below, I love the script, especially how it comapres the real world to the internet. I think this comparison will really click with a lot of people, myself included, who operate their entire lives based on the internet these days.

The last thing that I love about this campaign is that they actually left three Dodge Journey's out in the real world somewhere and the first people who actually get out there and find them, get to keep them. So get out there and start looking, even if you don't find the car, the Journey will be one to remember!

Fooled by Febreze

The new Febreze 'experiment' commercials are GREAT! They are not only funny and memorable - which I consider to be the best two qualities in a commercial - but they also do a great job at portraying what Febreze is for and the quality of the product.

The new commercials (see them below) show a few 'random people off the street' who are blindfolded and taken into a room that looks dirty and smelly. The room has been treated with Febreze products and the subjects are asked to describe what they smell. You see the people smelling and touching things that look disgusting, but because the odors have been eliminated and replaced with a clean smell, they are unaware that they are in the presence of garbage.

I look forward to seeing more of these commercials, the new Febreze campaign smells fresh and clean to me!