Some of the products that are placed within Season 5, Episode 1 of “30 Rock” program are the Life Alert Systems and the CBS logo displayed on Kenneth’s red blazer during the tote bag scene with Tracy Morgan and Kenneth.
“30 Rock” navigates product placement differently than some programs I watch. For example, I was watching one of my favorite childhood shows like “The Fresh Prince of Bel- Air”, some of the product placements I noticed on the show were the Nike Brand “Air Jordan” sneakers, worn by the Will Smith character. In addition, Will Smith often wore the JanSport Backpack. Other examples of product placements found in “Fresh Prince” include Will drinking Coca-Cola from the can and afterwards, he says “how refreshing”. Hilary (Will’s cousin) wears Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent purses. Carlton wears many Ralph Lauren sweaters. Uncle Phil sports Rolex watches on his wrists and drives a Volvo and a Mercedes Benz.
I believe “30 Rock” navigates product placement differently than “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. “30 Rock” used the Life Alert product placement which was somewhat divided from the story and awkward. The Life Alert product is designed mainly for sickly senior citizens and I do not believe sickly seniors are the ones most likely to watch “30 Rock” because of its strange humor and usage of modern or popular culture. “30 Rock” flashed the CBS logo on Kenneth’s blazer. CBS is a major competitor of NBC. In contrast, the product placements seen on the “Fresh Prince” are the typical kinds of things viewers would and should expect to see for that storyline and those particular characters. Will comes from West Philadelphia with a hip-hop background and persona and with limited financial means. On the other hand, his rich and affluent relatives in Bel Air live in a luxurious mansion leading lavish lifestyles. The product placements are reasonable for the program and are not too distracting because the viewers expect to see those products for that genre.
In Einhart’s article, she finds the product placements annoying, on “30 Rock” but understandable. She believes one cannot necessarily blame the show for the position they take because money is very important and this is a way for the show to be profitable. There is mention that the show continues to struggle with ratings. The program, “The Office” although it has more product placements than “30 Rock”, I believe it is not as distracting. Another interesting point Einhart makes is there are so many people using different platforms like Hulu, Netflix and bouncing commercials, nowadays, product placement is here to stay. Instead of watching commercials or advertisements, viewers can see the products directly from shows like “30 Rock” or from other television shows or movies.
In my view, I find the lack of subtlety in product placement in “30 Rock” somewhat annoying because the products are not really connected to the storyline. I find those particular product placements distracting because I prefer to concentrate on the complicated humor and plot of the show and not spend time thinking about products that are not connected in any meaningful way.
Finally, I find the product placements in the “Fresh Prince” entertaining because they do not interfere with the story or the comedy, even if the product placements are not subtle. In other words, the product placements somewhat flow naturally with the stories and thus enjoyable.
Mels Perspective 