OK so the last thing I want to do here is say anything negative about Marvel's Iron Man as a film, I paid my money (twice) and enjoyed all 126 minutes of it, pretty much like I do with most big event movies, but what I do want to discuss is the product placement issues I have with modern blockbuster movies.

I am fairly confident in saying that product placement on TV and in movies has become such a common place occurrence that not too many people actually notice it anymore, and when done well it can even add realism to even the most over-the-top movie extravaganza i.e. GMs sponsorship of Transformers and the stunning video billboards seen in Bladerunner.

But when they get it wrong, it can really grate, this is where I come back to Iron Man, Tony Stark, engineering genius, billionaire playboy, weapons dealer extraordinaire and true American patriot, now the Rolls Royce, OK I understand, America has no car that comes anywhere near the grand marque that is RR... but then there's the Audi R8, beautiful car, super car pedigree (Audi do own Lamborghini after all), but is that what a true American patriot would drive?

Where's the Corvette, where's the Shelby?

That is where the line between reality and product placement falls apart, and sadly the Audi product placement continues unabated throughout the movie, maybe I can understand the Pepper Potts character driving an RS 6, as she is supposedly a woman of class and taste after all, but when it comes to the climactic battle, to see a regular family driving around in an Audi A6 in LA strikes me as quite unbelievable, I have spent many months in and around LA and the sightings of Audis are few and far between.

The point I am trying to make here is that Hollywood insists on selling placement space to the highest bidder, now with rising film production costs I can see why these deals are so important, but if they insist on making decisions based purely on who has the most marketing dollars to the detriment of the look and feel of a movie, surely eventually the product buying cinema goer will get savvy to this, and in the end it could prove detrimental to both the brands and the studios...

In the words of the legendary Wayne Campbell "Well that's where I see things just a little differently. Contract or no, I will not bow to any sponsor." as he holds on lovingly to his Pizza Hut box.

        

Welcome to the first posting on the BadMonkey Blog, this is where the Bad Monkey Communications team get to rant or rave about things that pique their interest. As with everything we do at BMC we have decided that this blog will be as open and honest as it can possibly be (within the bounds of the law of course...), but we also believe that a blog should always be capable of being read by a general audience, so the only no-go areas are bad language, sexually explicit text or imagery and any form of incitement to hatred of any kind... So with that said let's get started... I hope you enjoy what we write and feel compelled to discuss anything and everything you find interesting or questionable with us, we love talking (as you'll discover) so never be afraid to ask us a question or hit us up with a great idea or interesting link...