Adventures in Product Placement: 24

This week's episode of 24 had another not-so-subtle placement of the Hyundai Genesis. This has happened before (the video is no longer available), and will probably happen again. Hyundai has signed on for placement in the series for this entire season. They take the place of Ford, which was the vehicle of choice for Jack Bauer in previous seasons.

The Ford placement, however, was never so in-your-face. With Hyundai, 24 has written entire scenes existing only to showcase the Genesis.

This season was supposed to air last year, but was put on hold due to the writer's strike. At the time of the strike, nearly 14 months ago, half of this season was already shot and ready to go. When the strike ended in March 2008, they resumed production and completed the entire season by the end of the summer. It was around this time that the Genesis deal came along. Producer's then had to go back into those first 12 episodes filmed in 2007, and insert scenes that featured the 2009 Hyundai Genesis.

This week featured one of those scenes. It was by no means a scene necessary to the ongoing plot. It felt more like a car commercial, complete with a loving family and a child safely in the back seat. There were obligatory dashboard navigation shots, as many shots of the entire car as they could squeeze in, and shots that start low and focused on the car and then slowly pan up to the actors.

Again, I don't mind product placement; it is necessary to counter rising production costs and a good way for brands to generate awareness. However, it does not need to be so obvious that it takes viewers out of the show. Ford never had that problem in previous 24 seasons. Do the producer's think we won't notice the placement? It's laughable how obvious it is. Does it bother you? Take a look:



Fox's '24' In Gear with Hyundai Integration